The Final Fantasy
by Tears of Light
Summary: Sara Hysaro finds a crystal and is magically transported into another world where Tokyo, Japan doesn't exist. Her only choice is to go with the Warriors of Light to find a way back but is she in fact one of the Warriors of Light herself?
1. Prologue

The Final Fantasy

Disclaimer: The story line is based mainly on that of the first Final Fantasy game, which is available for the game boy Advance system. I do not own this story line but the information in this book can be used as sort of a walkthrough if you wish, though it will never replace a real walkthrough with maps and step by step instruction on everything. I will, however place my Bestiary, which is about 93 complete at the end and offer some valuable tips on how to defeat bosses such as Chaos without relying completely on luck.

Prologue

_The world lies shrouded in darkness…_

_The winds die…_

_The seas rage…_

_The earth decays…_

_But the people believe in the prophecy, patiently awaiting it's fulfillment…_

"_When darkness veils the world four Warriors of Light shall come."_

…_After a long journey four young travelers did come…_

…_and in the hand of each was clutched a crystal…_


	2. The Crystal and The Bracelet

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 1. Don't sue me.

Chapter 1: The Crystal and the Bracelet

Sara Hysaro is your average teenager living in Tokyo. She had light brown, almost blonde hair and brown eyes. She made good grades in school and was on the school volleyball team. 17 years old, she was making plans to attend a good collage and become a doctor and save lives. That was her life long dream and her destiny. Little did she know how much of it was her destiny.

She thought she was on her way home from volleyball practice. She thought that her day would consist of doing homework, helping out around the house where she can, and maybe swing by the mall to pick up that new shirt she's had her eyes on since they put it up in the window. She thought that it would be a pretty uneventful day. This was one the few instances in her life thus far where she had been wrong about something. In other words, she thought wrong.

Walking down the sidewalk she noticed something on the ground by her feet. Normally she would have just walked on, yet there was something about this object that compelled her to pick it up. She bent over and noticed that it was a charm bracelet. The 6 charms were rather strange and unlike anything she had seen before. They included a cave, a volcano, a mermaid, a tower with a castle above it, another castle unlike those she had ever seen before in pictures, and lastly a small green crystal. This last one attracted her full attention because it seemed to pulse with a strange glowing energy.

The people didn't notice her staring at the green crystal as they hurried along their way. Nor did they notice when a circle of light shone brilliantly on the ground and she began to fade out of view then disappear completely leaving an empty space where her body once was and a charm bracelet with all but one of it's charms. Nobody took any notice of the charm bracelet either.

Only her mother and father took any note of her disappearance when she wasn't home when they expected her. They grew worried when she wasn't home by supper, and terrified when she hadn't come home at all that night. They issued a missing person report as soon as the law would allow.

The police searched for her endlessly, yet none found a trace of her. The K-9 unit's dogs picked up her trail and led them to that very same spot where she had stood staring at a strange green crystal attached to an equally strange charm bracelet. All that was left of her was a charm bracelet with five charms. The green crystal had disappeared along with her. The police picked up the strange bracelet and put it away as evidence.


	3. The Warriors of Light

Chapter 2: The Warriors of Light

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 1.

Somewhere in another world a similar circle of light shone on the ground and Sara materialized into view. She had on a different pair of clothes, a white robe with red triangles lining the sleeves, and in one hand she was clutching a wooden staff tightly. In the other hand was the green crystal which she clutched with equal strength. Her eyes slowly opened and she found herself in a forest with a concrete wall to the left of her. She looked around and a panic started to overtake her as she found herself in a strange land in strange clothes with no sign of people…

"Are we almost there yet?"

Sara looked around for the source of the voice and saw three people traveling a few hundred yards behind her trailing beside the forest. She forgot her dilemma temporarily as curiosity took over. As they drew closer she could see that they were all fairly young, most likely around her age. Two had blond hair and the other she couldn't tell because he had on a pointed straw hat with a brown band around it. The hat cast a shadow on his face.

One of the blondes had on a red outfit, and a yellow belt with a small scabbard that wouldn't hold anything other than a knife. He was slightly ahead to the others so Sara thought he was the leader. The other blond had a green outfit with a similar belt holding what seemed to Sara to be holding a knife identical to the one the leader. He also had a green bandana covering most of his hair except a small part which stuck out of it. Sara thought that the two could be brothers but wasn't sure.

The third had on a blue robe. She couldn't tell but he did have a knife concealed underneath the robe in an area where he could draw it at a moment's notice. The group was heading her direction and Sara decided that it would safe to make herself known. She slowly walked into their view stepping carelessly on the dead leaves.

The green outfitted one heard and said, "Hold up."

The leader asked, "What is it?"

The first one said, "I don't know, but let's find out."

He took out his knife and the other two followed his example. They slowly proceeded in the direction of the noise.

Sara emerged from the forest and found herself with a knife at her throat. She put her arms up in surrender dropping both the staff which she hadn't yet took notice of carrying and the crystal on the grass. The group then sighed and put away their knives. The leader asked, "Who are you?"

Sara said still a little panicked, "Sara Hysaro!"

The leader picked up her staff and crystal and stared at the crystal for a bit before saying, "You know, we have similar crystals to this."

The panic wearing off Sara asked, "Did it transport you to this strange place too?"

The one with the green bandana said, "You could say that."

The leader explained, "The villagers took note of the crystals and sent us on a journey here."

The green one said, "Yeah, something about some sort of prophecy needing fulfillment or something like that. So what are you supposed to be?"

The one without a face replied, "A white mage, obviously."

Sara asked, "A white mage?"

He nodded and explained, "Yes. They are trained in the ways of the white magics, which consists of healing and protecting."

Sara then looked at her outfit and saw the change. She then said, "So this is what white mages wear, huh?"

He nodded. Sara put the hood over her head and said, "Well, I suppose it isn't too bad of an outfit. I still wouldn't wear under normal circumstances but these aren't exactly normal circumstances…"

The group gave questioning glances at each other before they spoke up again. The leader said, "Well, I'm not sure what you mean but my name is Doma Toroth."

The second blond said, "My name is Elayne Toroth."

Sara chimed in, "So you _are_ brothers!"

Elayne joked, "No, we're married. Of course we're brothers!"

Doma replied, "Twins actually. I'm the older twin."

Elayne said, "Which explains why you are the overly serious twin."

The one with the dark blue robe said, "I'm Homac Higashi."

Sara held out her hand and said, "Nice to meet you Homac. You too, Doma and Elayne. Like I said, my name is Sara Hysaro." She could now see that he had dark brown hair and brown eyes.

Homac replied, "Nice to meet you too. I'm a black mage, he's a warrior…"

Doma raised his hand to be acknowledged. Homac continued, "and he's a ninja-in-training."

Elayne said, "How do you do?"

Sara replied, "Not sure. I wish I knew where I was."

Homac answered, "You, my friend, are standing beside the city of dreams, Cornelia."

Sara replied, "Never heard of it but let's go."

Doma nodded and handed back her crystal and staff. Sara took them and wondered how she got the staff for a moment before dismissing it. After all this, she thought the weapon was the least unusual thing so far.

Elayne asked, "So you've _never_ heard of Cornelia?"

Sara shook her head and said, "No, I haven't."

Doma said, "You know guys, maybe she bumped her head and lost her memory."

Homac nodded and replied, "Yes, that would explain why she seems so confused and doesn't know of Cornelia."

Elayne said, "Either that or she's just been living under a rock all her life."

Homac replied, "That's extremely unlikely. I have a question for you, Sara. Where did you come from?"

Sara said, "Tokyo."

Homac, Doma, and Elayne were the ones to be confused now. Sara explained, "It's in Japan."

Homac said, "Never heard of it."

Elayne then said, "Aha!"

Doma asked, "What now?"

Elayne replied, "That proves it! Tokyo, Japan must be an underground colony someplace! She _has_ been living under a rock!"

Sara said, "I hate to burst your bubble, but Tokyo isn't an underground colony."

Homac then said, "Well, we could stand here and prove or disprove the existence of Tokyo or Japan or we can go to the castle like we were sent to do."

Doma said, "Yeah, he's right. Let's go."

Elayne asked, "She can come, right?"

Doma said, "If she wants. It's probably for the best anyway, she has a crystal."

Sara replied, "I'll go with you."

The group then moved on toward Cornelia. They whipped around the bend in the wall and saw the entrance into the city. Passing through Sara saw an inn, a weapons shop, and a couple magic shops. At the end of town there was a guard blocking the way. Doma said, "We're going to the castle. Could you please let us pass?"

The guard said, "What business do you have with the king?"

Doma, Elayne, and Homac took out their crystals and held them out. Sara did likewise with her own. The guard then stammered, "Th-those crystals! You must see the king at once! Please, please follow me."

The guard the muttered under his breath, "We may have a chance yet," before he led them into the castle. He then went up the stairs and entered the king's chamber where the king sat on a throne and the chancellor sat to the right of him. Sara saw him talking to the king before he came back out and said, "The king will see you now."

They entered the chamber and the King said, "Welcome, travelers. I am told you carry the crystals. Is this true?"

The group presented their crystals and the King marveled at them before they placed them back in their carrying spaces. The king then said, "It's just as Lukahn's prophecy foretold: 'When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come.'"

The Chancellor then said, "Your Majesty, we cannot be certain that these are the warriors foretold by the prophecy."

The king then replied, "Yet they stand before us with the crystals. I cannot dismiss this as mere coincidence. Crystal bearers, there is a task I would ask of you. Will you not rescue my daughter, Sarah?"

The chancellor said, "Garland, a knight once in His Majesty's service, has abducted Princess Sarah. I ask for your aid in the name of His Majesty, the king of Cornelia. Garland has taken refuge in the Chaos Shrine, which lies to our north. Of course, we did attempt to save the princess ourselves…

"But Garland is the finest swordsman in the kingdom. We have none who can match him."

Doma said, "We will rescue Princess Sarah."

The king said, "Good. I have heard that you wish to journey to the continent to the north."

Doma replied, "Yes, your Majesty."

The king continued, "Unfortunately, the bridge leading north was lost long ago, making passage impossible. However, if you can rescue Sarah, I will have the bridge rebuilt as a sign of my gratitude.

"Go now, Warriors of Light, and do not fail me!"

Doma then said, "We won't."

They then left the king's chamber and Elayne said, "Princess Sarah, huh? Now where does that name sound familiar?"

Sara replied, "Oh, shut up. It's pronounced differently." (A.N. I don't know if Sarah and Sara are pronounced differently, but it's safe to assume it does.)

Sara then asked, "Who are the Warriors of Light anyhow?"

Elayne replied, "Well, we are apparently. Cool, huh?"

Sara replied, "Sounds more dangerous than cool. So what it this prophecy anyway?"

Homac said, "It's what we were sent here for. You heard part of the prophecy."

Sara said, "Oh. Yeah. So we just have to rescue the princess?"

Doma replied, "That's about it."

Homac replied, "No it isn't. The Warriors of Light have to do more than that. We just have to find out what we can do to help."

Sara sighed and looked back at her crystal. The strange light that the crystal was giving off faded and it looked like any old crystal. She then said under her breath, "I guess I'm not going home anytime soon."

Doma asked, "What did you say?"

Sara smiled and said, "Oh, nothing much."

They then continued out of the castle and back into town.


	4. The White Mage

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 1

Okay, I'm dissapointed that I only got one review but it's okay. Ovo, I hope you are still reading this other wise I'll never get any reviews. Thanks for saying I have talent! Enjoy!

Chapter 3: The White Mage

Now out of the castle and into town Doma said, "We ought to get some better equipment if we are to stand any chance against Garland."

Sara asked, "Um, I don't have any money."

Elayne replied, "That's okay, I have twice the amount of gil this two have. I'll let you have half."

Sara responded, "Oh, um, you don't have to…"

Elayne interrupted, "Nonsense! We're in this together, now aren't we?"

Sara nodded. Elayne then continued, "Well then that means that you ought to have a little gil to spend on stuff. You should know a couple spells and have a better weapon then that staff of yours."

Homac commented, "You know, I wouldn't mind that staff for myself if you don't mind."

Sara looked over and said, "Um, okay. If you want it."

She handed over the staff and Homac took it from her. Elayne then started fishing around his bag of gil and poured half into a smaller bag. Sara noticed that gil were actually small gold coins. He then briefly counted the number of gold coins before deciding that it was even and handing it over to Sara. She took the bag and tied it to one of the loops on her pants meant to hold a belt. She then looked back at Elayne and said, "Thank you."

Elayne mimicked taking off his hat (or bandana in his case) and gave a bow. Sara couldn't help but laugh at this gesture. Elayne looked up at her and gave a smirk before standing upright again. Then the three walked off leaving Sara behind with a bag of gil next to a white magic shop. Sara figured that she might as well stop here first so thusly she walked in the door.

Inside she saw another white mage sitting in a seat behind a crystal ball. The rug had a very fancy pattern and black fringe. The room was dimly lit and the walls and ceiling were purple. There were candles on the shelves to either side of her, illuminating the room. Sara then stopped looking around at the scenery and focused on the white mage in front of her.

The white mage had blue eyes and red hair. She was pale as if she didn't get outside much (which she probably didn't), but Sara couldn't say for sure because of the poor lighting. The white mage spoke up: "Can I help you?"

Sara replied, "Oh, yes! I was wondering if you could teach me a couple spells?"

The white mage responded, "That depends on two things."

Sara inevitably asked, "What are they?"

The white mage continued, "Whether or not you have the gil, and whether or not you have the magical talent to learn what is being taught."

Sara's heart sank. She surely couldn't learn magic, she barely scraped up a B in Algebra 2 last year. She wondered how disappointed her new found company would be if they learned that she would only be dead weight instead of the white mage they expected her to be.

Yet while this doubt ran through her mind a small part of her wondered why she would appear in a white mage's clothing if she couldn't learn white magic? Surely if the crystal had the magic power to bring her here it would know what she had the talent to learn. But then again, it's only an inanimate object so how could it know anything? _"Well," _she thought, _"it never hurts to try."_

She then asked, "Um, if I can't learn it will I get my money back?"

The white mage replied, "Time is money. If you sign up for a lesson in white magic and find out you don't have the talent for it the only thing I can do is bade you goodbye and hope you can earn that gil back somehow."

Sara sighed and said, "Well, I'll never know if I don't try."

The white mage smiled and said, "That's right. So what do you want to learn?"

Sara asked, "What do you have?"

She answered, "We have 4 spells: Cure, Dia, Protect, and Blink, All 50 gil."

Sara asked in a confused tone, "Blink?"

The white mage asked, "Is that what you want to learn?"

Sara replied, "What does it do?"

The white mage said, "Helps you not get hit so easily."

Sara asked, "What about Dia? What does that do?"

She replied, "Harms undead monsters such as skeletons and ghosts. Zombies too."

Sara laughed and said, "I doubt that ghosts, zombies, and skeletons are going to be a problem."

The white mage said, "I hear you are going to Chaos Shrine to rescue the king's daughter, Princess Sarah."

Sara asked, "Where did you hear that? Your all-seeing crystal ball?"

She scoffed and said, "No, I heard a rumor."

Sara yelled, "That was not ten minutes ago!"

The white mage replied, "The rumor's been going around ever since you outsiders walked into the castle. Well, getting back to what I was saying, undead monsters are a common occurrence in places such as that. It might be handy to know a good spell against them. I also suggest Cure. No white mage can truly be a white mage unless they know a healing spell."

Sara calmed down a bit and said, "Okay, I'll learn those two then. How much would that be again? 100…gil?" Sara had to bite her lip to prevent herself from saying yen.

The white mage nodded. Sara then took out her money bag and pulled out a gold coin. "This is one gil, right?"

The white mage nodded and said, "One down, 99 to go."

Sara laughed a little and grabbed a couple handfuls. She then laid them on the table and counted them out quickly. She saw there was only 97 coins and took out 3 more coins and put away the bag. It was significantly lighter then it was before.

The white mage scooped up the coins, did a brief count of her own to confirm the amount, and placed them in a large bag she took out from behind the desk. She put the heavy bag back and led Sara into another room.

This room was smaller, yet was lighter too. Sara supposed the white walls helped with that. There was a long table with a single chair at one end. Sara sat down and the white mage went behind her and took out a knife from a shelf in the left corner. She then bent down and gave the unsuspecting teenager a long, shallow gash on her left arm. She did this in a matter of seconds giving no warning. Sara then yelled, "Ow! What'd you do that for?"

The white mage ignored her and said, "Relax. Breath in slow, deep breaths and concentrate."

Sara yelled, "On what!"

The white mage said, "Relax, deep breaths, and remember that you want that cut gone. You would like nothing more then to get rid of that cut. Want it, let that want fill your body and fulfil it. Place your hand over the cut and turn that want into energy and release it through your fingertips!"

Sara muttered, "What I'd want it to hit you on the head, and hard too. If only I still had that staff."

She sighed and did as she was told. She didn't know about that whole "turn that want into energy" thing but she felt a tingling sensation in her fingertips and the light blue energy jumped from her finger to the cut like static electricity. As the energy kept flowing the cut healed and she could tell that she was running out of that energy so when it was completely healed she stopped.

Sara then ran her fingers over the skin where her cut had been and gave an awed, "Wow!"

The white mage replied, "That was very good. Now you said you wanted Dia?"

Sara nodded and said, "Lay it on me. I feel like I can do anything today. I can do magic. That is just unbelievable!"

The white mage smiled and turned off the kerosene lamp. Sara then asked, "So I suppose I need to create light, huh?"

She replied, "That's correct. You got the idea. Let's see how you do on your own."

Sara smiled and started by calming herself down. Then she put out her hands and had them face each other, as if she were holding a big, invisible ball. She could feel the energy surging through her fingers into her fingertips where they transferred toward the middle of the space. The collective jolts of energy, still light blue, worked together to form a small yet bright shining orb floating in the air. It gave off a strange aura that Sara couldn't make head or tails of, but she could tell that it wouldn't hurt anything that could stand the light.

The orb died after a minute or so and the white mage turned on the kerosene lamp again. Sara was smiling brightly, apparently proud of what she had accomplished in so little time. Sara then said, "Thank you! That was awesome. Well, all that except the whole being cut part but I suppose now it was necessary."

The white mage nodded and said, "Yes, I find that if you have a reason to heal yourself you are more likely to do it. Provided you can use white magic that is."

Sara nodded and said, "Well, goodbye!"

Sara left the shop and took a deep breath. She then smiled at nothing in particular and headed toward the weapon shop.


	5. Supplies

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 1.

Chapter 4: Supplies

Sara arrived at the weapon shop (indicated by they hanging sign with a sword on it) and wasn't surprised to find Homac there waiting impatiently while the twins were searching endlessly through the barrel that contained rapiers for the sharpest ones. Homac was tapping his foot clutching the staff Sara had given him.

Sara joined Homac in the corner and asked, "Were you here the whole time?"

Homac shook his head. "First I went to the black magic shop, then I went to the armor shop and didn't find anything that would serve as a Black Mage's clothing besides what I have on in varying shades of black."

Sara replied, "It never hurts to have extra clothing."

Homac said, "Of course, but the inns let travelers swap their old clothes in for new ones. Usually you won't have to go more then a day or two without a new pair. As for the robes and armor, you can just wash them."

Sara replied, "Neat. Have they been to the armor shop?"

Homac shook his head, "I saw them walk into this shop first and here they still are. You'd think they would be in more of a hurry."

Sara nodded and searched the weapon selection herself. She noticed that staffs identical to the one Homac now possessed were priced at 4 gil, as were the knives. The Nunchaku was priced at 8 gil, and it was the same for the rapiers and hammers. The sales person noticed Sara searching the weapons and asked, "May I help you?"

Sara replied, "Um…I guess…"

The salesclerk clapped his hands together once and said in a rapid voice, "Then have I got the weapon for you! You're a white mage right?"

Before Sara could open her mouth to give a positive reply he continued, "I figured you were. May I suggest a weapon?"

Sara barely managed a nod before he started yapping again, "Perfect! I would suggest you buy the hammer. It's the best weapon for a white mage in these parts. Designed to do a lot of damage to foes without being too heavy so even a newbie like you can wield it with ease, and it's at the low, low price of 8 gil! Now tell me that isn't a bargain! So what do you say?"

This time he let Sara have an opportunity to speak. She looked at Homac questioningly and saw he was nodding. She then turned back to the salesman and said, "Alright."

The salesman then smiled and got out a hammer from a barrel behind the counter. After taking it Sara noticed instantly that while it had some weight she wouldn't have any problem swinging it around. She then asked, "Why is the barrel of swords on this side instead of behind the counter like the others?"

The salesclerk pointed a finger at the twins and said, "They wouldn't buy the rapiers unless they got their pick. I suppose they were convinced I'd give them dull ones. I don't know what the big deal is though; after all, they are all brand new."

Sara said, "I guess it's like buying a book. You know it's brand new, but you check it out just the same to see that none of the pages are falling out."

He shrugged and Sara joined Homac in the wait. Only a few minutes passed before Elayne said, "I like this one."

Doma grabbed the one he was just looking at and said, "I'll buy this one."

The salesman said, "About time. That'll be 8 gil each."

Both twins handed over the gil and attached the rapiers to their belts. Sara noticed they moved the knifes backwards on the belt to make room for the rapiers. Homac asked, "So are we going or what?"

Doma replied, "Well, we still need armor. You can get supplies if you want."

Homac said, "I'll just go with you guys."

Doma said, "Alright then."

They exited the shop and next door to the right was the armor shop. The sign above the doorway was that of a shield. The party entered the building and The twins went gawking at the armor. Doma said in an awed tone, "Take a look at the chain mail."

Elayne replied, "Too heavy for me. Tad expensive too, don't you think?"

Doma answered, "I have the money."

Elayne responded, "Eh, suit yourself. It's your money. I'm going to stick with the leather armor myself. Hey!"

The salesman who was polishing a silver cup turned around and looked at Elayne. Elayne continued, "I'd like some leather armor."

The salesman nodded and picked up the armor. He then said, "That'll be 40 gil."

Elayne forked over the loot and got back the leather. He then put it on and walked outside to get some fresh air.

Doma asked for the chain mail and the salesman handed it to him. It cost him 65 gil in total. Doma thanked the salesman and said, "Hey, let's go."

Homac and Sara followed Doma outside where Elayne was leaning against wall with his hands rested behind his head. He was whistling until the rest of the group walked out and Doma said, "Okay, now that we have equipment and I take it you two got your spells…" he looked at Homac and Sara who both nodded. "Good. Then all that's left to do is to get some supplies."

Elayne then chimed in, "To the convenience store at once!"

They walked along the cobblestone path past the fountain to the far right. They soon happened upon a large building indicated by the picture of a teapot on the sign. Inside was a supermarket filled with various supplies. On closer inspection she noticed there wasn't as much selection as she thought. There were three shelves: one contained nothing but potions on both sides; the second shelf contained solely antidotes; the last one, however, had sleeping bags on one side and bottles containing feathers on the other. Sara noticed that the bottles containing the feather were labeled phoenix down.

Homac said, "Okay, everyone chip in 5 gil and I'll get the food."

Sara, Doma, and Elayne handed over the gil and he went over to a counter. Sara couldn't hear what he said, but the saleswoman had handed him 4 boxes held in a cloth tied at the top. Sara was reminded first of t.v. dinners then of lunch boxes. The second guess was the correct one.

While Homac was buying food Sara saw that Doma had picked up a potion and brought it to the counter to pay for. Elayne, however, was seeming to have a hard time decided between an antidote and a potion. When he noticed that Homac was done getting the food he shouted, "Hey Homac!"

Homac asked, "What?"

Elayne said, "Are there any poisonous creatures around here?"

Homac replied, "None that I can think of at the moment. They mostly reside on the main land instead of this isolated bit of land."

Elayne then said, "Thanks." And grabbed the potion and paid for it.

Afterward they exited the building and Doma asked, "So how much gil do we have left?"

Sara opened her bag and said, "I have 12."

Elayne replied, "32."

Homac responded, "25."

Doma said, "Well, I have 7 so that leaves us with…"

Homac answered, "71 gil."

Elayne replied, "Wow, that's a bit loss from the 500 we started out with."

Sara then said, "Actually, this money doesn't even belong to me."

She fished out the bag and held it out to Elayne who shook his head. "We're in this together. I gave you that money and it's yours to keep and do whatever you want with."

Sara replied, "Oh. Okay. Thank you."

Elayne did the mock bow again and Sara laughed like last time. Doma then said, "Well, it's still light out, we could knock out a good distance from here to Chaos Shrine. Let's go."

Sara asked, "Do we even know how far it is?"

Doma shook his head and asked, "Why?"

She replied, "Well, it'll be a bit of a pain sleeping on the ground without a sleeping bag."

Homac replied, "That's right, we didn't bring an extra sleeping bag."

Elayne then said, "And 71 gil drops down to 21 gil. We're almost paupers."

Sara replied, "Sorry."

Doma shook his head and said, "It's alright."

He collected 50 gil between himself and the other guys before he entered the store (Sara insisted on paying for some of it but he said that it was their welcome present). When he came out again he had a sleeping bag inside it's own bag. He handed it to Sara who took off her robe and her backpack (it transferred over). She opened up the backpack and was shocked to discover that her books had disappeared leaving nothing but an empty pack. Nevertheless, she put the small sleeping bag inside and zipped it up. She then put everything on again and they left Cornelia.

Outside the city they were faced with the same grassy area they entered from. Once outside Homac pulled out a piece of paper. Sara recognized it for a map when she looked over his shoulder. After looking at it for a few minutes he said, "We need to go that way," pointing north-west. The party headed that way and their mission to rescue Princess Sarah was underway.


	6. Monsters

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never have, probably never will.

* * *

Chapter 5: Monsters

The party was walking beside the forest. Sara looked inside to find eyes peering out of it at them. She then said, "What are those things?"

Homac said, "Goblins."

Sara replied, "Er…Goblins?"

Homac then said, "Either that or Goblin Guards."

Sara took one more look at the eyes leering at them and said, "You sure?"

Homac nodded. "Positive."

Sara sighed and decided she wasn't surprised to find monsters in this fairytale-like world. Doma then said, "Let's just hope they don't attack us."

Elayne replied, "Why not? We're practically broke and you know that they always carry some gil with them."

Sara then joked, "Well if that's true then maybe we should find their base and get all their gil from there."

Elayne missed the sarcasm and said, "Yeah! Let's do it! Think of all the treasure we'll get from that."

Homac replied, "It's a good idea, yet we should wait until after we rescue the princess."

Elayne whined, "But we'll have to go by then."

Sara replied, "Didn't the king say he'll fix the bridge _after_ we rescued the princess? I don't know how long it takes to build a bridge exactly, but I suppose it'll take some time."

Homac said, "If they work hard then they'll have a good bridge ready within 3 or 4 days, give or take a few."

Elayne calmed down and Sara asked, "How exactly tough are Goblins, anyway?"

Homac said, "Well, they're exceedingly weak. One or two hits should take care of them."

Doma added, "But they're also a little speedy so they might get you with their knives if you're not careful."

Elayne chimed in, "But they're not as fast as me! Their knives do hardly any damage at all and they're too dumb to know it."

Homac replied, "Yes, they are stupid yet they find that safety is in numbers. They'll ambush you if you aren't paying attention."

Elayne said, "Best thing to do, Sara, is to not worry about them. Even if we do get hurt, you can just heal us. Wait a second…you did learn how to cure, right?"

Sara nodded and said, "Yeah."

Homac then said, "Even if she didn't, we have two potions in case somebody gets really hurt."

Sara looked back at the forest. The leering eyes had disappeared and she relaxed. Homac looked at the forest too and said, "They're gone. That could be either good or bad."

Sara looked at him. He explained, "They could have moved ahead of us to attempt an ambush, or they could have thought better of their attack plan."

Elayne chimed in, "That's not a good/bad thing, it's all good! Either we don't have to deal with them at the moment or we get to kill them and take their gil."

Sara replied, "I've never fought a Goblin before. Come to think of it, I've never fought anything before."

Doma replied, "Neither have we. We just had a bit of training done to teach us a few things and were set off."

Elayne said, "We haven't been very lucky in finding and killing monsters yet. They just seem to ignore us."

Homac said, "That's a good thing, Elayne."

Elayne rolled his eyes and continued to walk beside the forest. Sara looked toward the right of them and found the sea in the distance was twinkling in the sunlight. Something then rose to the surface and dived down again before Sara could identify it. She was instantly reminded of both the movie Jaws and the elusive Nessie, the Lock Ness monster. She then looked forward again, not wanting to see exactly what it was.

A little further on they heard a rustling sound and four Goblins jumped out at them. Doma and Elayne rapidly unsheathed their rapiers, while Homac started swinging his staff at a goblin. Sara tightly gripped her own weapon and picked out her target.

Doma was swinging his weapon and the speedy goblin dodged until it paused for a second and Doma stabbed him clean in the heart. The Goblin's lifeless body fell to the ground and blood rapidly flooded out of its chest.

Elayne was charging his own Goblin who kept backing up into the forest. The Goblin giggled mischievously as the blows missed. The Goblin then jumped backward one more time and was backed up into a tree and it's giggling ended. A look of terror appeared on its face while Elayne thrust his rapier and somehow managed to decapitate him. Blood squirted out of his neck like a fountain and the body of the now two foot tall goblin staggered forward a few steps before falling to the ground. It's body twitched for a few more seconds before becoming motionless.

Homac held his ground while the goblin attacked. The Goblin jumped meaning to gouge out his eyes and Homac swung the staff. It made contact on the side of the Goblin's head and he was knocked off course. The goblin landed on its side and struggled to get up. Homac made one final blow to the head and the goblin was knocked unconscious. He then took the goblin's own knife and plunged it into it's chest. A lung was punctured and the goblin made strained wheezing sounds as it struggled to take in air. Homac then took his own knife and cut into the throat. The goblin then ceased to live.

Sara was too shocked to move for a second as she saw the goblin charging at her. Then she lifted the hammer above her head and brought it down on the ground. Her blow hit the grass as the goblin dodged to the right and jumped up. For a second Sara thought about just dropping the hammer and spiking the goblin as if it was a volleyball but a single look at the sharp knife changed her mind. She swung the hammer like a batter and it made contact at the cheek. Sara could hear the jawbone and teeth crumble when the hammer made contact and the goblin fell to the ground. Sara brought the hammer up one final time and it made contact on the head. The skull cracked and allowed the hammer to plunge through the delicate brain inside. When she brought it out again it was dripping with blood. Sara gave a disgusted look at it before she wiped it off to the best of her ability on the grass.

Doma then said, "Well that wasn't too bad."

Elayne replied, "Speak for yourself; I'm wiped out!"

Homac responded, "I'm not."

Elayne exclaimed, "Well you weren't charging the stupid thing!"

Sara said, "That was, well…a little scary at first, truthfully, but also a little exciting. It's sorta like how I felt when I played my first game on the volleyball team in middle school."

Elayne asked, "Volleyball?"

Sara said, "Never mind."

Elayne then said, "Well, let's go collect the earns."

Sara tuned back toward her goblin and spied a small bag hanging from a belt. She bent down and untied it. The bag contained 6 gil. Her personal savings including that amount now consisted of 18 gil. Not much, really. She took out her own gil pouch and poured the coins inside. She put the bag away again and stood up. The rest of the party were done as well and they were waiting for her to catch up. She rushed over and they continued.

Sara took one look back at the bodies and asked, "So we're just going to leave them?"

Homac said, "Yes. The wolves will eat them."

Sara looked back again and saw that a pack of wolves were emerging from the forest. One gave a cautious look a Sara before moving on. Sara looked front again and ignored the wolves now feasting on the corpses. Homac added, "Wolves are mainly hunters, but they'll eat freshly killed meat."

Sara nodded and they continued on their way. A little further up the forest turned to the right and they were faced with a field with tall grass. Sara thought that goblins could easily hide in it and ambush travelers. To confirm that Doma said, "Be careful, it's dangerous in the places such as these."

The rest nodded and they slowly made their way across the field. Sara could spot the figure of a horse in the distance. She said, "Hey, look!"

Doma said, "I see it. Let's just hope that it is a normal horse as opposed to an ill one."

Sara asked, "An ill horse? It looks fine to me."

Homac said, "He means one that has a disease which drives it insane."

Elayne added, "I call them crazy horses."

Homac continued, "Anyway, if it is insane we'll have to kill it otherwise it'll kill us."

Sara looked back at the horse grazing in the distance. She hoped that it wasn't a "crazy horse" and they could let it be.

As they drew closer though, Sara's hope slowly diminished as she could smell the faint, putrid odor of something that has died. The horse stopped grazing and turned to them, it's yellow eyes blazed with fury and aggression was etched into every part of the horse's body.

It charged toward Sara and the party scattered. Sara couldn't get out of the way fast enough and it knocked her down, causing her to drop her weapon. She saw the horse rearing up its forelegs for a crushing stomp and she rolled to the right, avoiding the attack. She grabbed her hammer and brought it down. The horse jumped out of the way and the only thing Sara managed to do was to make it mad.

The horse bucked and stomped wildly, and kicked Doma in the stomach. Despite the chain mail he was wearing, he was hurt, but not to the point of danger. He was knocked down and he scrambled up again. Elayne thrust his rapier into the side of the horse and infuriated it even further. It turned around and attempted to bite Elayne who jumped out of the way at the last possible second.

Doma had gotten up and plunged his own sword into the horse as well. Homac was off to the side of the battle field and yelled, "Get out of the way!"

The two scrambled away and Homac summoned a shining powder that he threw into the air. The powder was carried to the horse by a faint breeze. The powder caused the horse to waver on its legs and fight to keep its eyes open. It failed in the attempt and it fell asleep still standing.

Doma and Elayne ran over and took out their swords from the horse. Doma then fatally stabbed the dosing horse and they both ran out of the way of the falling horse. It landed with a thud on the ground and dark blood flooded out from the wound.

Sara looked at the horse and said, "I like horses."

Homac replied, "I do too, but this needed to be done."

Sara nodded and they moved on, leaving the body for any hungry scavenger that came along. The group could see a forest ahead with mountains on either side of it. Sara made a mental note to ask how they had gotten to the isolated Cornelia. They entered the forest and walked until daylight shone its late ray and the group had found a clearing. Elayne had gathered some firewood and stones to contain the fire and Homac started it with the other spell he learned, Fire.

Sara took this opportunity to ask, "Cornelia is isolated, right?"

Homac nodded and asked, "Why?"

Sara replied, "I was wondering how you got here."

Doma said, "We took a boat from Pravoka and sailed west because we heard something was wrong in Cornelia."

Elayne continued, "Unfortunately, the boat didn't like us much. A storm hit and we crashed along the coast near this very forest."

Homac said, "The boat is probably just a little right from here, actually. It's a wreck though, so we can't use it anymore."

Elayne replied, "Come to think of it, wasn't that the last ship they had?"

The other two nodded and Homac said, "Let's just hope we'll find another one in our travels. We'll definitely need one."

Sara asked, "Well, the king heard you wanted to go north."

Doma nodded, "Yes, we were to go here and fix the problem before going north again to Pravoka."

Sara asked, "Why did you need to go back to Pravoka?"

Doma said, "To return the boat."

Elayne broke into laughter and said, "Yeah, that guy isn't going to be pleased at all!"

Sara asked, "What guy?"

Homac said, "Someone by the name of Gerald lent us the boat when he heard our village sent us to see the king of Cornelia. He lent us the boat and said that when we were done with our business in Cornelia we had to see him give him back his boat or to let him know where we were taking it."

Sara replied, "Wow. He _is _going to be pissed. Hopefully he will understand it was out of your control."

Elayne remarked, "Yeah, now he's just going to have to build another boat. I guess that means we're swimming everywhere from now on."

Homac remarked, "Gerald was the first and last guy we saw in Pravoka, by the way. We don't know if there are any other boats. If there were, we couldn't see any."

Sara said, "I just hope everything goes well in the end."

Homac nodded. "That would be the best thing."

They cooked some of the food in one of the boxes and packed the rest away. The meal was fairly good and filled them up. The box had 4 small canteens filled with water. When they were done Elayne walked off and said, "If you hear me screaming, come save me, okay?"

Homac said sarcastically, "No, we'll just wait here while you scream for your life."

Elayne replied, "Ha ha, very funny. Not."

He went deeper into the woods and no one back at camp heard screams of terror. He returned safe, sound, and whole and the rest of the camp did their own. While the other members of the team were falling quickly asleep, Sara was having some trouble. Nor did it help when a wolf in the distance bayed at the moon, sending chills down her spine. She then sat up and looked around. Homac opened his eyes and asked, "What is it?"

Sara said, "I'm a little…well…scared."

Homac nodded and replied, "Just try to get some sleep, okay?"

Sara nodded and laid back down. She then slowly drifted off herself listening to the howls of the distant wolves.

* * *

How could I misuse the rapier? Corrected that mistake. 


	7. Garland

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy as I am not Squaresoft or Square Enix.

* * *

Chapter 6: Garland

As the sun started to rise in the sky and peek through the trees Sara woke up. She expected to wake up in her bed, safe and sound as if this was a big, elaborate dream which she was sure to tell her friends about when she got to school. What she wasn't expecting was to wake up in a sleeping bag in the middle of a forest in the company of three guys. She thought she had accepted the situation until she woke up and instantly felt disappointed as she saw the trees overhead.

She sat up and looked around. Homac had fallen asleep with his head over his face blocking off the sun. Doma was sleeping soundlessly in his own sleeping bag while his twin was snoring away in his. Sara again wondered how they could sleep so soundly knowing that there were monsters abundant in the forest.

She climbed out of her sleeping bag and wondered if this fairytale world had toothpaste and running water. She thought not and took a leak by a tree. She immediately wished she had some toilet paper as she used some leaves which she hoped weren't poisonous. She went back to camp and saw the group was still asleep.

She then picked up a twig and snapped it in two. Homac and Doma then woke up, but Elayne just gave big snore and continued to sleep. Homac looked around and asked while rubbing his eyes, "What was that for?"

Sara responded, "Just wondering if you would wake up in time if something attacked. You two passed, but Elayne failed."

Homac asked, "How long have you been up?"

Sara responded, "Only a few minutes."

She then walked over to wake up Elayne and was pinned to the ground with a knife to her throat again and Elayne peering over her still half-asleep. He noticed it was Sara and replied, "Oh, sorry."

He got off her and pulled her to her feet. Sara then said, "Okay then, I guess Elayne does pass."

Elayne asked, "Pass what?"

Sara explained, "I snapped a twig and you didn't wake up."

Elayne then said, "Oh, I never wake up to stupid things like that. I'd never get any sleep if I did."

Sara then said, "Oh. Alright then."

Doma replied, "Well, now that we're all up we should get going. Princess Sarah won't wait forever."

The others nodded and with that they resumed their journey. Almost out of the forest Sara looked to the left and noticed that there was a cave on the side of the mountain. She then said, "Guys…"

The others stopped and asked, "What?"

Sara said, "There's a cave over there."

Homac looked over at the map and said, "That must be Earthgift Shrine. I've heard that you can't enter anymore."

Sara asked, "Why not?"

Homac shrugged and replied, "I don't know."

Elayne said, "Well, let's check it out."

Doma said, "Maybe later. We have a princess to save, remember?"

Elayne gave a disappointed look at his twin and then they continued on. When they exited the forest a few minutes later they were faced with swampy grounds. Sara replied, "We have to cross _that_?"

Elayne replied, "Sucks, don't it?"

Sara said, "Tell me about it. We're going to get all muddy…"

Homac interrupted, "You better get used to it, not everyplace is pleasant."

Doma took the lead by stepping out into the swampy lands. The rest followed and Sara reluctantly followed.

As she walked along she saw eyes peering out at her from the murky water. She was then unnerved and resisted the urge to stare at the eyes and scream. Further ahead she put her foot down on a piece of land which looked firm only to have it sink down almost up to her knees. Sara quickly said, "Hey guys! I'm stuck!"

Doma lifted her up out of the mud with some effort and set her down on the solid ground. He then said, "Be more careful."

Sara nodded and said, "Thank you."

She didn't stuck in the mud again in the hour and a half they traveled through the muck. When they saw the normal land they cheered and disturbed a Gigas Worm which rose up out of the muck to face the travelers. Sara stared as the mud began to rise and the beginning of a large purple worm appeared through it. She then stifled a scream and said, "What the _hell_ is that!"

The others looked and Homac replied, "Oh…my…god…"

Sara asked, "What?"

Homac replied, "That's a Gigas Worm!"

Elayne then said, "Well let's kill it then."

Homac responded, "You don't understand. They have incredibly tough skin. Your rapiers might not be able to harm it."

Sara asked, "What about magic?"

Homac then said, "Oh, that right! They're weak against magic! Fire specifically if I remember correctly. Stand back while I torch this thing!"

The others got behind him and the worm which was slimy and about 4 feet long and 1 foot wide rose completely out of the ground. It opened up its mouth and Sara could see saliva dripping onto the ground through incredibly sharp teeth. Six antenna extended from its head and its feet were spikes that buried themselves into the mud. It screamed a cry of rage as it stared blindly at the position the travelers were standing.

Homac collected energy and it traveled through the staff and formed a giant ball of fire at the end. The ball blazed for a few seconds before being released and flying straight toward the worm. The worm snarled as the blazing ball of fire raced toward it. The ball made contact with the worm and exploded, covering the worm with fire. The worm screamed in pain as it burned to ashes. A few wolves across the swamp turned toward the bright light before moving on.

Homac stood at that spot for a few more seconds before turning toward the rest of the group and saying, "Well, that problem is dealt with. Let's get going before more monsters are attracted by the light."

They continued on their way. A few moments later they encountered a forest again. The sun shone high in the sky and heated up the ground below so when they finally entered the forest they were grateful for the shade.

They traveled through the forest with only a brief encounter with four more goblins. The goblins had a failed attempt at ambush and the party managed to turn the tables on them. The group made short work of the surprised goblins and collected the gil before moving on.

After traveling through the forest for three hours they exited the forest and were faced with a run-down shrine. The group stopped and stared at it for a moment. The white marble walls were crumbling in places and cracks were visible all over it. Sara recognized it for the strange castle on the charm bracelet and said under her breath, "The charm…"

Elayne asked, "What?"

Sara replied, "It's nothing."

Elayne then said, "Alright then, let's go. Princess Sarah won't wait forever!"

The group headed toward the castle. On closer inspection Sara saw that it was even worse than originally conceived. The white walls were now faded and dingy as a thin layer of dirt covered it. The door was falling off its hinges. Doma opened it and it fell to the ground nearly hitting Sara on the head. She jumped out of the way and it fell harmlessly on the ground. The group peered inside.

Despite the open door the place was still dark as night. They could only see a few feet in front of their faces. Homac asked, "Do you think you could light this place up a bit, Sara?"

Sara nodded and tried to see if she could send the energy through her weapon like Homac had done. To her surprise, it was easier to do with a medium then through air. The energy traveled through her body and hammer to create a beam of light that pierced through the darkness. Sara saw for a moment as shadowy creatures had screamed and fled from the light while ghosts had simply vanished in it. With the light to protect them they entered the building.

Sara spent a few seconds looking at the dreary scenery. There weren't any pictures or paintings, and the tables were covered in a thick coat of dust making it impossible to see the original color. There were candles on top of the tables yet they were burned down to the base. The chandeliers above were in great disrepair and Sara thought that they would fall down at a moments notice. Straight ahead was a door with a faint light coming from it. Sara and the others made haste toward it and when they had reached it Sara dimmed the light and Doma opened the door. They entered the room and spied two figures in the dim light.

One figure had on a helm with two horns sticking out of it. He had on a purple cape with red lining it. Behind him was a girl passed out on the floor. She had long blond hair and a turquoise dress. The source of the light was behind her, gleaming ominous dark blue light. Every second it flashed a brighter shade flooding the room with faint light. Five bats were flying restlessly around the room, and Sara could see there was also a strange instrument she couldn't make out in the darkness leaning against the wall. The first figure, Garland, was talking to himself, "The king will have no choice but to exchange the kingdom for his daughter's life. Cornelia will be mine!"

He then sensed other people in the room and started to turn around yelling, "Who's there?"

Once he had a good look at the travelers his expression of worry faded away. He then said, "Hmph. The king's lapdogs. Do you have any idea who you're messing with?"

Doma replied, "We're here to defeat you, Garland, and rescue Princess Sarah."

Garland laughed and replied in a disbelieving tone, "You really think you have what it takes to cross swords with ME?"

Elayne replied, "I think we do."

Garland then replied, "Very well then. I, Garland, will kill each and every one of you!"

He unsheathed his sword and attacked. Doma and Elayne both took out their own rapiers and prepared for attack. Homac readied himself to cast a spell and Sara stood by to help anyone in need.

Garland thrust his sword at Doma who jumped to the side in order to dodge the blow. The maneuver appeared to work at first, but a quick second strike cut deep into his arm. With this sudden pain in his right arm, Doma lost grasp on his rapier, and it fell with a clanking sound and rolled off some to the side. Doma screamed holding his arm as blood rapidly dripped unto the floor.

Garland readied a killing blow and Elayne sped over and using the hilt of his rapier, managed to hold him off long enough for Doma to get out of the way. Sara sped over to Doma and started to heal his arm.

Homac carefully positioned himself to avoid hitting Elayne who was struggling to hold on. He then created a ball of fire which grew to a large size before being released toward Garland.

Sara finished healing Doma and he saw the ball of fire rush toward Garland. Garland noticed the burning light too late to avoid it and it hit. The armor turned red as the fire heated it up. Garland screamed loudly as the hot armor melted, burning his skin. Doma took this opportunity to rush over, grab up his sword, and along with a now freed Elayne cut through the armor and cut through Garland's body. Elayne sliced through the stomach while Doma stabbed him through the chest and severed Garland's heart and lungs.

The dying Garland collapsed onto the floor, his screams turned into wheezes as blood flooded from his body. Within seconds Garland fell silent, his eyes peering emotionlessly out to space.

Sara, who could deal with seeing monsters dead and bloody, felt sick at the sight of Garland's cold, dead corpse which would soon be rotting alone in this place. Sara then gave a glance of shock when she noticed that Doma had removed Garland's Broadsword and its corresponding scabbard. Doma noticed Sara's agape mouth and replied, "What? He's not going to use it?"

She shrugged and turned her head to look at the princess who was still passed out on the floor. Sara strode over and shook her lightly. The princess slowly opened up her blue eyes. She took a confused glance around at her rescuers and said, "You…you've come to rescue me? I don't know how I can ever thank you…"

Elayne walked over said, "Well, a kiss would do just fine."

Princess Sarah slapped him on the cheek and said, "Sorry, but I'm not like that at all. I'm not going to just kiss you like that, alright?"

Elayne defended, "Hey, it was a joke!"

Princess Sara then said, "Well anyway I am Sarah, princess of Cornelia. May I have the pleasure of knowing my rescuers' names?"

Doma replied, "My name is Doma Toroth, from the town of Jedric."

Elayne said, "I'm his twin, Elayne Toroth."

Homac responded, "I'm Homac Higashi, also from the town of Jedric."

Sara said, "My name's Sara Hysaro, and I don't think you ever heard of Tokyo, have you?"

Princess Sarah replied, "I'm afraid I haven't. Do you know any city near it?"

Sara responded, "Well, my city is a major one so I suppose that you wouldn't know about any others where I'm from."

Princess Sarah replied, "Well if that's so then I suppose I wouldn't. Anyway, that it the first time anyone has ever defeated Garland. You must allow me to show my gratitude. Please, accompany me to Castle Cornelia."

Elayne said, "Well, It'll take a while and food is limited."

Princess Sarah replied, "I'll just use my magic to get out of here then. My father hired a white wizard to train me to become a skilled white wizard myself. I learned the spell teleport. I would have used it to get out of here myself, but Garland made sure that I would stay unconscious."

She grabbed the instrument from the wall and started to mutter an incantation. The floor beneath the five people's feet began to glow in a circle of light. For a split second Sara thought that she was going home, back to her world. When she found herself in the royal chamber she was slightly disappointed, but not surprised.

The King was seated on his throne and when he saw the five materialize into view, his former glance of worry from the last time was replaced with a look of genuine happiness. He jumped down from his throne and hugged his daughter with tears of joy running down his face. He was saying, "I was so worried! I'm so happy you've returned safe and sound!"

Sarah smiled and said, "I missed you too, Dad."

The hug lasted a second longer before the King was reseated on his throne. He gazed down at his daughter's rescuers and said, "I thank you for returning my daughter to my side. There can be no doubt that you are the Warriors of Light from Lukahn's prophecy. You should hear the prophecy in its entirety. Ahem, if I may…

"'When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come. If they cannot gather the shards of light, the darkness with consume all. The four Crystals will never shine again…"

"Now, I hear that a Crystal can be found on the continent to our north. Restoring light to the Crystals is our only hope of ridding the world of the monsters which plague it! I will have the bridge to the north rebuilt, as I promised. I pray that you succeed in restoring light to the four Crystals and to the world."

The group turned to leave and Princess Sarah exclaimed, "Wait!"

They turned around and she held out the instrument, "This lute has been entrusted to the princesses of Cornelia for many generations. When he abducted me, Garland took this lute as well. I want you to have it. It may aid you in your journey some day."

Doma took it and said, "Thank you."

The king then replied, "Excuse me, if I may speak."

Doma replied, "Why of course, your Majesty."

The king then said, "You deserve a bit of gil to help you in your travels. While it may not seem like much, please accept 300 gil and a free pass for you to stay free in the inn while you are waiting for the bridge to be completed."

He held out a bag of gil and a scroll over to them. Doma took it and said, "Thank you, your Majesty."

The King replied, "No, thank you for rescuing my daughter. I only wish I can do more. Unfortunately, trade hasn't been so good since the monsters came about. It's too hard to get anything over here."

Doma said, "That's sorry to hear. We'll do what we can to help."

The King replied, "Just restore the light to the Crystals and that should fix all the problems."

Doma nodded and left with the others following. The guard outside the royal chamber exclaimed, "The Warriors of Light! I don't know how to thank you for rescuing the princess!"

Sara replied, "You're welcome."

The guard nodded and they moved out of castle with some difficulty. The guards continuously thanked them and both Queen Jayde and Princess Sarah's little sister thanked them near to death. When they finally exited the castle Sara said, "Wow, people sure are thankful!"

Homac said, "It's generally like that when someone of great importance is rescued."

Elayne asked, "What, have you seen that type of thing before?"

Homac replied, "Well, no but I can assume it's always like this."

Sara laughed and said, "You know what they say about assuming!"

Everyone else asked, "What?"

Sara finished, "It makes an ass out of you and me!"

The other three stood dumbfounded for a moment before they got and laughed. Elayne said, "That's a good one! When did you think up that one?"

Sara replied, "Oh, I didn't make that one up. It's an old saying. It started before I was even born."

Elayne then said, "Well okay then. Now that we've got some cash, let's split this money up, shall we?"

In a secluded spot they divided up the cash, each person getting 75 gil to do what they wish with. After dividing the reward up they headed to the inn for a mid-afternoon nap.

* * *

I made few corrections. That is all. If you read them you will catch them. 


	8. The Gobin Base

Chapter 7: The Goblin Base

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy. Sorry it took so long, I haven't had much time lately to update. Enjoy and I hope to update soon.

The morning rays of sunrise filled the darkness of the inn and woke Sara. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked out the window. She stared at the sunrise before grabbing her robe from the end of her bed and going outside. She sat down on the steps and resumed her gaze. "Nice, isn't it?"

Homac's voice startled her out of her trance and she turned around. Homac was standing in the doorway smiling down at her. He then sat down right next to her and said, "It reminds me of when I was younger, and I used to get up early every morning just to watch it, even in winter. My mother doesn't mind in summer yet in fall and winter she would get so upset and start yelling at me to get a decent coat on otherwise I'd catch cold. I never listened so she would grab the thickest coat in the house and bring it out along with a steaming cup of hot chocolate and watch it with me."

Sara replied, "Sounds nice."

Homac nodded and said, "It was. It truly was."

Sara then said, "You know, this is the first time I've actually sat down and watched the sunrise. Normally I'd be sleeping or heading off to school."

Homac asked, "School?"

Sara replied, "It's a place where you go to learn stuff."

Homac replied, "Oh, an academy. You must come from a rich family."

Sara shook her head and said, "Not really. It doesn't cost anything to go to school. Well, collage costs a fortune, but before that it's all free. At least public school is, private schools aren't free."

Homac commented, "Free schooling, huh? Odd."

Sara replied, "It only sounds odd to you because you're used to having to pay for school. It seems perfectly normal for me."

The door opened behind them and They turned around to look. Elayne was in the doorway rubbing his eyes. He then said, "God, we slept a while. How on earth can people sleep for 18 hours?"

Sara replied, "I do it all the time on the weekends."

Elayne yawned and said, "Well, I don't."

Sara smiled and said, "First time for everything."

Elayne shrugged and said, "Whatever. Well, I'm going. See you later."

Homac asked, "Where are you going?"

Elayne replied, "To train a bit."

Homac then said, "Don't die on us now."

Elayne responded, "Ha, ha, very funny. Not."

Elayne walked out of view and a few minutes later the door opened again to reveal Doma wide awake and dressed. He then looked around and asked, "Where's Elayne?"

Homac replied, "He went off to train."

Doma then said, "That idiot, what if he gets ambushed by goblins and gets killed?"

He started to walk out of the village and then turned around and asked, "What are you two doing?"

Sara replied, "I came out to watch the sunrise and Homac came out a couple minutes later."

Doma nodded and said, "Well, since you two aren't doing anything important would you mind it if you came with me?"

Homac said, "Not at all."

Sara replied, "No reason not to."

Doma then continued out of the village and they followed. They searched around and found Elayne wandering around in the forest. Doma then hit him on the head and said, "What the hell do you think you are doing? It's dangerous out here and Mom would have a royal fit if you got killed off because nobody was with you to help out! Do I need to hire a babysitter to watch you or what?"

Elayne replied, "No, you don't need to hire a babysitter, I can watch myself, thank you very much. Now if you don't mind shutting up, there are two goblin guards over there and I think I just found the goblin base."

Sara whispered, "You know, goblins are smaller than us so we might not fit through the entrance."

Elayne commented, "Well you're small so you might be able to fit through."

Sara replied sarcastically, "Oh yeah, just send me into a base teeming with monsters all by myself to get killed off."

Elayne said, "Quiet, you'll alert the guards if you keep talking."

Sara rolled her eyes and said no more. Elayne then gestured for Doma to sneak behind one of the guards and that he'll take the other. He then said, "Homac, be ready to back us up it things don't go as planned and Sara, you just hang tight and be ready to heal any serious injuries in case things go astray. Got it?"

Sara and Homac nodded and the plan proceeded. Elayne carefully crawled under the cover of the trees out of the guard's view and Doma mirrored it. While Elayne was completely silent, Doma wasn't quite as skilled and the rustling he made could be heard easily. The noise put the goblins on guard and ready for an attack. Elayne managed to sneak up behind his goblin and slit the throat before the other could notice. Doma's target strayed from the boulder he seemed to be guarding toward where Doma was. He readied his razor sharp knife and proceeded. Elayne took this opportunity to slit the other's throat committing another soundless murder.

Elayne gestured for the others to move in and the rest of the team huddled around him. Elayne then pulled out a large bag and poured the gil inside before saying, "We'll put all the gil in here and split it up afterward, got it?"

The team nodded and Sara looked around and asked, "Um, where's the entrance?"

Elayne pointed to the boulder and said, "There, most likely."

Sara asked, How on earth could tiny goblins lift that!"

Elayne replied, "Well, let's find out. He took hold of one side of the boulder and Doma took the other. They lifted the rock up with ease and Elayne said, "This, my friend, is no ordinary boulder. This is a fake boulder made from some light substance and designed to look like a rock."

They moved the "boulder" out of the way and uncovered a large hole which 4 people could jump down at one time with ease. Sara asked, "Why is the hole so big?"

Elayne replied, "Not sure, but it looks like you won't need to go by yourself."

They jumped in and a split second later they found themselves in a large, underground tunnel. There were three goblins in the immediate vicinity and they charged at the intruders. Sara took care of one by hitting it hard on the head and Elayne and Doma took care of the other two. Their gil was collected and the team moved on.

As the team proceeded along the one way passage Sara asked again, "Why would the tunnel be so large? Goblins are so small they could fit an army through here no problem."

Homac replied, "Maybe that was their intention when they dug this. If so, then we should immediately dispose of each goblin in here before they have time to rally and storm Cornelia."

Sara said, "Maybe."

As the tunnel continued it branched out into three directions. Sara asked, "Which way?"

Homac said, "Perhaps we should move down the two end branches before going down the center. Goblins aren't very smart, so they probably used the end branches for ways to storage and the center to go deeper into the tunnel."

Elayne asked, "Well, lead the way."

Homac took the left branch and the others followed. As they proceeded they heard voices speaking gibberish up ahead and prepared for battle. Soon enough, they encountered a group of 6 goblins chattering and unaware of the quartet staring at them. They managed to kill off three before the other goblins could take action.

Elayne's target tried to pull out his knife yet it got stuck in its sheath and Elayne quickly disposed of it. Doma was able to kill off the other goblin before it could get into range, and the remaining goblin was double teamed by Sara and Homac and also taken care of. The earnings were placed in the bag and Sara said, "Wow, these goblins aren't all that strong."

Homac replied, "They weren't ever strong. It's just that we've caught them off guard."

They continued down the passage and encountered more surprised goblins which the party disposed of easily. A few more minutes of traveling and they encountered a small group of homes. Elayne whispered, "Wow, a village of goblins. Imagine how much loot we're going to earn there."

Homac looked around and said, "Doesn't look like there are any other passages down this way either. I was right so far."

Doma replied, "Let's just hope you continue to be right."

They entered the closest hovel and discovered a family of 4 goblins. The party took care of them easily and Elayne noticed that they didn't have any gil on them and said, "They probably kept their gil somewhere in here."

Sara said, "In here, maybe?" pointing to a dirty box. They opened it up and found a small fortune of gil which Elayne scooped up into the bag. They proceeded into the next 5 houses and raided them out as well. In the final house the goblins were aware of the sudden disappearance of the normal noise and managed to ambush the party. They did light damage with their knives before the party eradicated them. Sara found a potion in another box in that house which they took as well.

Homac then said, "Alright, let's move out to the next branch before proceeding to the main branch."

Doma asked, "Hey, who's the leader here?"

Elayne said, "Nobody, you elected yourself a leader in case you forgot."

Homac replied, "I'm just saying what we should do."

Sara chimed in, "We should get a move on, before the other goblins overhear us and prepare some kind of an ambush."

Homac replied, "Right, so let's go."

The walked along the path back to the intersection where they took the other side passage. They walked along and encountered another village like before. They eradicated that village as well and collected a lot of gil and a couple more potions. Sara quickly healed all the minor cuts they received before they proceeded back toward the intersection. They then made their way down the center passage way and along the way heard strange sounds that echoed through the cave. Sara asked, "What was that?"

Homac said, "I…I don't know. You guys?"

They twins shook their heads. Homac then said, "Well, let's keep on guard."

They slowly made their way down the passage way until it split off into two passage ways. More strange yelling could be heard down the left passage while the right one was silent. Elayne whispered, "Well, which way? The obviously dangerous path or the not so obvious path?"

Homac replied, "The yells can be heard throughout the cave giving any goblins in the other passageway a clue about what's going on. So the other path seems to be the sensible path for now."

With that they made their way slowly down the right path. What they found at the end of the path was an army of almost 50 goblins. They all turned toward the party and Elayne said, "Is it me, or are we outnumbered?"

Doma said, "Best plan is to hold our ground."

Sara asked, "Think you can put them to sleep, Homac?"

Homac said, "No wind, we're underground. I could prepare a giant fireball however if you guys buy off some time."

Elayne said, "You can count on us!"

The army charged and Homac started to collect all the magical energy he had into a fireball while Sara, Elayne, and Doma protected him from harm. The goblins surrounded and ganged up on the three fighting members of the team. Elayne and Doma tried their best to kill as many as they could while Sara rendered many unconscious due to head injuries and concussions. After a while the fireball was ready and the other three members got out of the way as the fireball raced through the air killing about 30 of the goblins and slightly burning the others leaving a workable number of goblins left.

The energy was drained out of Homac's body leaving him sitting on the ground to recollect his energy. Sara hung back to defend Homac from any goblins who would take advantage of him in his weakened state while the twins rushed around killing goblin after goblin until there were no more to take care of. Homac then got up slowly and said, "Well, that's taken care of. Now back to Cornelia to recuperate our energy."

Sara looked around on the bloody ground and noticed a strange bottle of liquid near one the dead goblins. She picked it up and asked, "What's this?"

Homac looked at it and smiled. "Looks like we won't have to go back just yet. That's a bottle of ether. It restores magical energy. Thanks for finding it, Sara."

Sara said, "No problem."

Homac drank the small amount of liquid and left the empty bottle where Sara found it. They then each drank a potion to heal their wounds and give them back some energy before proceeded into the final hallway. The yells grew louder as they approached and when they reached near the end of the passageway they encountered a large creature with purple skin in a brown kilt-like outfit. It held a large club which it raised over it's head when it noticed the party. It brought it down on the group which scattered before the club could smash them. The agitated Ogre then raised the club yet again over it's head only to have the attack yet again miss.

Doma attacked the Ogre further infuriating it and Homac prepared a fireball to send flying toward the Ogre. Elayne also attacked the Ogre but inflicted little injury. Homac was finally finished with his fireball which he let fly at the Ogre. It made contact and set the Ogre ablaze. The Ogre screamed loudly and the ground trembled with it's last scream. When the scream died out it crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

Sara looked around and said, "Hey, there's a door over there!"

The others looked at it and Elayne walked over and put his ear to the door. After a few moments like this he removed his head from the door and said, "It's completely silent there."

Homac then noticed the large bag of gil and removed it from the belt around the kilt. He then said, "Elayne, looks like we got more gil here."

Elayne then fished out his own bag and noticed that the Ogre's bag was in fact larger then his. He then poured the collected gil into the other bag and said, "Thanks for finding it, I nearly forgot."

They then walked through the door and found themselves in a small room with two treasure chests inside. The first one contained a lot of gil as well as jewels most likely looted from their victims. The second and smaller treasure chest contained a few potions and a couple more ethers. They collected the treasure and left the tunnel. Outside they made their way to Cornelia to rest at the inn.

At the inn Elayne dumped the gil they earned on that quest on his bed where he said, "Okay, now to count this all out. Where to start?"

Doma said, "Give it up, it'll take too long to count each individual one. Just give everyone a share."

Sara replied, "He could deal it out like cards. Then nobody would have to count it and any left over money could be spare money for food and inns."

Homac replied, "Great idea. Stick mine in that bag, I'm going to sleep."

Sara said, "Good night."

Homac replied, "Night." And drifted off.

Elayne sorted out the money and set aside the 50 left into a spare money bag.


	9. Farewells

Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy. (What else is new?)

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Chapter 8: Farewells

Four days later the bridge was completed. Sara was relaxing in a bathtub as thoughts raced through her mind. _It certainly has been quite a week. I wonder how much longer I will have to wait until I can go home. Will I ever go home?_

Sara sighed and stepped out of the bathtub. She took one of the towels off the shelf nearby and dried herself off. She then heard a knock on the door. She wrapped the towel around herself and said, "Come in!"

Millie, the inn's maid, then walked through the door carrying Sara's clothes, all washed and dried. She then said, "Here are your clothes, milady"

Sara smiled and said, "How many times am I going to have to tell you to call me Sara?"

Millie smiled and replied, "A few more miss."

Sara shook her head and said, "You say that every time I ask."

Millie responded, "And it shall always be my response, milady."

Millie left the bathroom and shut the door and Sara got dressed. She smiled and thought about the time when she first met Millie right after raiding the goblin base.

_Sara was sleeping peacefully until a little maid in her uniform stormed in there and shook Sara violently saying "You have to get up, Miss!"_

_Sara immediately awoke and was faced with a young girl of about 15 years. She had tan skin, dark blue eyes and brown hair. Her cheek bone was dotted with freckles The girl repeated, "You have to get up, Miss, these sheets need to be washed!"_

_Sara gave a blank stare and the girl repeated with a hint of annoyance, "Did you not hear me? I said get up! Up! Up! Up! You must rise now so that the sheets may be washed!"_

_Sara jumped out of bed and the girl snatched up the sheets. She then gave a disgusted glance at Sara's clothes and said, "Yuck! Those clothes are filthy! You must get those cleaned up!"_

_She temporarily forgot about the sheets and pushed a very confused Sara through the hallway toward the bathroom door. She then opened it and shoved Sara inside and said, "Strip off those clothes, I will get the bath ready!"_

_Sara stood there confounded while the message the girl had sent to her sunk in. Moments later the girl burst into the bathroom again with four buckets of steaming hot water. She poured them into the bathtub behind Sara and repeated, "Remove your clothing!"_

_The girl rushed out again and Sara removed her filthy clothing. It felt good to get it off and she turned to get in the bathtub. She was about to get in when the girl burst into the room again carrying four more buckets of steaming hot water. Sara put up her arms to mask her nudity a little yet the girl didn't seem to care. When the bathtub was full of hot water she picked up the buckets again and snatched up Sara's clothing. _

_Sara then turned around again and carefully tested the water before climbing in. After scrubbing up she got out and grabbed a towel. The girl yet again entered the room, but this time with a little less haste._

_She then said, "Your strange clothing has been laundered."_

_An older maid walked by and said, "Millie, show a little more respect next time! This girl is one of the four chosen ones from Lukahn's prophecy!"_

_Millie then looked up at Sara's face with a look of pure admiration and bowed saying, "Milady! Forgive me for my disrespect!"_

_Sara gave her a blank stare and said, "Um…okay?"_

_Millie smiled and said, "Thank you, Milady!"_

_Sara then replied, "Um…it's Sara…"_

_Millie responded, "A lovely name it is, milady!"_

Sara laughed a little and walked out the door where the other three were waiting. Homac then asked, "Ready?"

Sara grabbed her backpack and slipped on her cloak and said, "Ready as I'll ever be."

They started to leave and the person at the counter said, "Goodbye and good luck, Warriors of Light!"

Millie then said, "I'll miss you, Sara!"

Sara then said out of instinct, "I asked you to…hey, you said my name!"

Millie smiled waved and then said, "Goodbye, Sara! Hope to see you again! Good luck, Warriors of Light!"

Sara smiled and waved goodbye along with the others.

Out in the streets the people were gathered in their best clothes to bid their saviors goodbye. "Goodbye, Warriors of Light!"

"Farewell, prophesied ones!"

"Restore the light to the Crystals and save this World!"

"Thank you for rescuing Princess Sarah!"

Doma then commented, "You'd think that they used up that one."

Elayne replied, "Well, you know. They can't thank us enough."

Along the crowded streets a little boy in tattered rags tugged at Elayne's sleeve. His face was tear-streaked and he said, "Do you have to go?"

Elayne bent down to his level and said, "Sorry but I have to."

The boy started to pout up and Elayne said, "You know what? I think I have enough time for one more trick."

The boy smiled brightly in anticipation. Elayne picked out a single gil from his bag and showed it to the boy. Then he put it in his other hand and clenched his fist around it. He blew on his hand and then opened it. The coin had disappeared. The little boy looked up at Elayne as if he were God. "Where did it go?"

Elayne said, "I don't know…wait a sec…what's that you got behind your ear?"

The little boy was confused and asked, "What do you mean?"

Elayne didn't give a verbal response but instead chose to grab at something behind the boy's ear. What he pulled out was the gil he had vanished. The little boy was astonished. "Wow…"

Elayne handed the little boy the coin. The boy carefully took it and asked, "Are you sure?"

Elayne laughed and said, "Hey, it came out of your ear, right? That makes it yours."

The little boy smiled even brighter (if it were possible at this point) and said, "Thank you!"

He waved enthusiastically at Elayne who smiled and waved back. Homac laughed suddenly and Elayne asked, "What?"

Homac replied, "And here I thought you were flirting with the innocent town women during your absences."

Elayne said, "Well, I would've if that Nathan didn't look so helpless and lonely."

Sara said, "Well, it was really nice of you to let him keep your gil."

Elayne replied, "I know. The kid must've bummed 50 gil off of me by now."

He laughed and continued, "Yeah, but Nathan deserves it. He's just lost his parents and his aunt and uncle aren't the richest people in the world. The kid's had it rough lately. He could use some entertainment."

Homac then gave a suspicious glance at Doma. Doma asked, "What?"

Homac asked, "So where have you been, training like I thought or taking Elayne's spot with the town women?"

Doma said, "Hey, I've been training."

Sara shrugged and said, "Well, Homac, one out of two isn't all bad."

Homac shrugged and said, "True. Very true."

Elayne asked, "So, where have _you_ gone during your absence?"

Homac stated, "I went back to learn the remaining two spells they had to offer."

Sara said, "I learned the remaining spells too. Though learning to create an illusionary copy of someone is a pain in the…"

She spied the little kids waving and finished with, "Butt."

While traveling through the streets they found it difficult to pass through the crowd and were constantly being handed food to aid them in their journey. After finally exiting the city, all four warriors' arms were filled with bread, meat, and cheese. Elayne said, "Great. How on Gaia are we supposed to eat all this food when it perishes in less than two weeks?"

Sara replied, "Well, we could make sandwiches."

Homac asked, "What are sandwiches?"

Sara laughed and said, "You slice two pieces of bread and stick some food between the two pieces. Simple, really."

Elayne then said, "Yeah, it does sound simple. How come nobody thought of it before now?"

Homac and Doma shrugged and the talk of sandwiches ended. After a few minutes of traveling they saw the completed bridge and a crowd of people next to it. Elayne squinted his eyes and held his hand over his eyes and said, "Don't tell me they're holding up more food…"

Sara then said, "Well, at least we won't starve…"

Doma stated with a grimace, "We shouldn't have bought those rations at the store…"

Sara replied, "Well, we didn't know that we would be bombarded with food."

The Warriors of Light could distinctly hear the shout of one villager stating, "I can see them!"

His cry was followed the excited holler of the crowd. Sara smiled and said, "Well, we certainly are famous…"

Elayne replied, "For good reason. After all, it's not everyday a princess gets saved and those same people are prophesied to save the world."

Sara shrugged and they drew closer to the crowd who responded with louder screams. Doma said, "They're going to pay for this in the morning."

Sara replied, "I know. Sore throats are going to plague the city."

Homac commented, "Yeah, well our _ears_ are going to pay for this if they keep it up."

Elayne said, "Hey, you'd scream loud too if you met the person who's supposed to save the world as opposed to _being_ one of the ones actually prophesized to save the world."

Homac replied, "I guess…"

They entered the crowd and it parted to let them through. A large group of people with uniforms on bowed down to the warriors and said simultaneously, "Good day, Warriors of Light. We bade you well on your journey!"

Sara and Homac wore similar looks of embarrassment while Elayne seemed to eat up the attention and Doma just smiled at them. Before walking across the bridge Sara spied a plaque stating:

_Dedicated to the valiant_

_Warriors of Light_

_Saviors of Cornelia_

_And the rest of Gaia_

The group smiled and walked across the bridge in high spirits, knowing well that the path on which they walk on is long and difficult. They know that whatever they must face will be most dangerous yet they shall endure whatever hardships that are thrown their way as they embark on the journey to save their world.


	10. The Witch's Cave

Disclaimer: Still don't own Final Fantasy...shame, I'd be a millionaire by now if I did...

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Chapter 9: The Witch's Cave

With the bridge out of sight the group decided to stop for the moment to put away the food in their arms. Doma asked, "Hey, Sara?"

Sara replied, "Yeah?"

Doma continued, "Do you still have that strange pack of yours?"

Sara nodded and said, "Under my cloak, and it's called a backpack. If you want to put food in it though, I'm going to have to be able to get at it. So…anybody want to temporarily take my load of the food?"

Looks went around the group. Homac said, "I would love to, but I've kinda got my hands full of my own…"

Doma said, "You know what? I can handle another load."

Sara said, "Thanks."

She walked over to where Doma was and carefully loaded her food up on top of his. She managed to pull off the big balancing act and quickly took off her cloak. Underneath was her red shirt and blue jeans in addition to the backpack. While she took off her backpack and proceeded to open it up, Doma scanned their surroundings.

They were in a grassland which broke off into the sea on both sides. The salty air blowing in their faces may have stuck Sara's eyes a little, but to the rest of them it was a reminder of their home. Up ahead in the distance was a stretch of mountains which had split the path in two.

When Sara had managed to stuff as much food as possible in her backpack (and any other bag they could spare) they were left with a couple loafs of bread. Sara suggested, "Why don't we split them up into little pieces and let the birds eat them?"

Homac said, "And attract a flock of cockatrice? No thanks."

Elayne said, "I vote to eat them now."

Sara looked at the two loafs of bread and said, "Well, we could."

Doma said, "It's better than feeding the monster roaming the world, that's for sure. Where in Gaia did you even get such an idea anyway, Sara?"

Sara said, "Well, where I come from there aren't any real monsters and sometimes little kids like to feed the ducks swimming in a lake."

Doma said, "That sounds like a waste of food to me."

Sara shrugged and said, "Well, we're pretty well off where I come from."

Homac replied, "Then get your world to help _our _world if its gotten rid of its hungry."

Sara responded, "Well…there still are some hungry people in our world but people raise money all the time to feed them. Doesn't seem like it's getting better, either."

Elayne said, "Imagine, if every loaf of bread that was wasted by it being eaten by a duck had been given to a starving person. That would definitely end your world hunger problem."

Sara replied, "I never thought about it like that before…still, people can't live off of bread."

Homac said, "It's better than eating scraps from other people's meals."

Sara replied, "True…"

Doma asked, "So, are we going to talk about how to end world hunger, or are we going to go ahead and end ours?"

Sara laughed and said, "Yeah, let's start eating."

With that they split the two loafs in half and gave everyone a piece to eat. When they had finished Sara slipped her backpack and cloak on and they got moving. The formerly sunny day, however, had been replaced by the dark clouds of a rainstorm and soon enough they were caught in a downpour.

Sara complained, "How long before we get there?"

Homac said, "We just started moving, we've still got a long way to go!"

Sara replied, "I can't see two feet in front of my face!"

Elayne said, "You know, she's got a point. If monsters decide to attack now, we'd be easy targets. Where's the closest shelter?"

Homac said, "That would be Matoya's Cave. There's no guarantee that she'd let us stay though."

Elayne said, "The old hag's blind! Just be real quiet and we can stay undetected."

Homac sighed and said, "What about her penetrating crystal eye? Certainly we can't hide from that."

Doma said, "I hate to correct you, Homac, but the latest news is that her crystal eyes has been stolen."

Homac asked, "Where'd you find that out?"

Doma said, "After one of my training sessions I returned and overheard two people talking about it. I don't know any more, I don't like to eavesdrop, but I did hear that."

Sara asked, "Um, who's Matoya anyway?"

Homac explained, "Matoya is a witch famous for her potions. If you want a potion, she's the one to go to."

They reached the mountains and after some thought Doma chose the left path which put them on the path toward Matoya's Cave.

Elayne said, "They'd cost you an arm or a leg though. I should know, she charged me 1,254,789 gil for a stinking love potion…"

Sara asked, "Who were you trying to make fall in love with you?"

Elayne replied, "Oh, just some cute brunette who lived on the outskirts of town. I was 12 at the time and she was about 17. What I remember most that she was…uh…well endowed."

Sara could barely contain a fit of giggles. "So what happened?"

Elayne said, "Well, I couldn't buy the potion and I couldn't simply woo her…"

Doma commented, "But you still managed to look like an idiot while trying."

Elayne sighed and continued, "Well _anyway_, in the end she got married…"

Homac said, "To an idiot on the other side of town. A lumberjack."

Elayne said, "To make a long story short, she's had three kids since then and she didn't look quite as attractive as she did before."

Doma said, "Quit beating around the bush and say she's gained about a hundred and fifty pounds and looks like a pig."

They entered a forest and the canopy provided some relief from the rain. When they reached a river Homac directed them to take a left. Walking along the riverbank they noticed the peering eyes of monsters and prepared for an attack.

Sure enough, when they started to see the end of the river they were attacked by a quartet of goblins which were easily taken care of with a few minor injuries which Sara healed with minimal damage. (needless to say they collected the gil).

Farther up deeper in the forest a pack of wolves attacked with a hungry look in their eyes. Doma was attacked by two of them, as well as Elayne and Homac. Sara was faced with an especially fierce one (probably the alpha male).

Sara raised her hammer yet could only manage to stop the wolf from tearing out her throat when it pounced. With her hammer between the wolf's teeth, Sara found the weight of the wolf pushing her down toward the ground and she was trapped beneath its claws.

The boys were busy with their own wolves. Doma managed to keep his at bay by swinging his rapier viciously. Elayne went straight for the kill with his first one and worked on his second.

Homac knocked out his wolves quickly and rushed over to help Sara. He delivered an especially nasty blow to the alpha male and managed to free Sara. He pushed the wolf off of Sara and held out his hand to help Sara get up. She grasped it firmly and rose to her feet. She then said, "Thank you, Homac."

Homac nodded and looked over to the others. They had just finished up their own battle and looked over at Homac and Sara. Sara quickly healed up the injuries and they continued along the way.

They encountered no more monsters along the way and no later had they exited the forest did they find themselves face to face with Matoya's Cave. Elayne said, "Well, let's go in and say hi to the old hag."

Doma said, "Word of advice: when we actually talk to the 'old hag' could you please refrain from calling her that?"

Elayne said, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

They saw a blinding flash a light followed by a deafening roar of thunder. Homac looked up at the sky and said, "I don't think this will let up soon."

Sara replied, "Yeah, I'm freezing here. May we please go inside?"

With that they entered the mouth of the cave. Inside they found a cobblestone path and lit torches on the wall lighting up the path. Sara was shocked to bear witness to what they saw next.

Up ahead was a broom, normal enough. It was sweeping, with was also a normal activity which a broom would be used in. What was not normal, however, was the fact that it was sweeping by itself with nobody to hold it. What was also not normal was the fact that it was singing a little tune while sweeping. "Swish-Swish-aree! I work to get this house squeaky clean! Swish-Swish-aroo! Aren't I such a wonderful broom?"

Elayne joked, "Hey, you missed a spot!"

The broom ignored him and continued along its merry, strange way. Sara ventured to ask, "Um…Homac? Are brooms supposed to do that?"

Homac asked, "What, sweep? Of course."

Sara shook her head violently and asked, "No, I mean sweeping by itself and…singing…"

Homac replied, "Oh! That. The broom is bewitched. Enchanted. As for the singing…well…that's just a side effect of its particular enchantment. Don't worry, it won't hurt you."

Sara responded, "Oh…uh…okay…"

Homac asked, "Don't you have enchanted brooms where you come from?"

Before she could respond they heard a large crash from beyond the door and an old lady shouting, "Ouch! Damn it!"

The group rushed through the door and saw a wrinkled old lady hopping on one foot holding the other with a grimace of pain etched on her face. The image was so comical (if cruel to think so) that Elayne had a good chuckle.

Sara said, "Elayne!"

Elayne replied, "What?"

Matoya stopped hopping and demanded, "Halt! Who goes there? Who has dared to enter my house?"

Doma, the only one who didn't secretly think the scene was comical, said, "Doma and Elayne Toroth, Homac Higashi, and Sara Hysaro. We supposedly are the Warriors of Light prophesized by Lukahn."

Matoya then asked, "What brings you here?"

Elayne said, "Has your old age made you deaf? It's thundering out there! We need a shelter."

Doma slapped him upside the head. Elayne exclaimed, "Ow! What was that for?"

Doma said, "If you don't know, you deserve it."

Elayne gave a hateful glance at his brother and sulked. Sara found it difficult not to laugh. Matoya said, "My hearing is just fine, thank ya very much. Just 'cause I'm blind as a bat doesn't mean I'm deaf, too!"

Sara looked around. They were surrounded by pedestals upon which there were the skulls of bulls (or at least that's what they looked like). The carpet was red, and extravagant designs were embroidered into it. There was a bed to their left and to the up-right corner was a couple bookcases most likely carrying books on potions and (possibly) fortune telling. Straight ahead was a desk with a white sheet covering it. A crystal ball sat in its stand directly in the center of the table. Inside the room (to Sara's dismay) were three more of the strange, singing brooms singing and sweeping in harmony.

Sara noticed that for a allegedly great potion maker, there certainly weren't a lot of potions in view. Or their ingredients for that matter. Sara figured there was some hidden door someplace so that, in case of robbery, nobody but Matoya herself would know where they were. Sara thought (and felt guilty immediately afterward) that it would give people a lot of trouble to find them when she died.

Doma asked, "Please, Matoya, could you let us wait out the storm here?"

Matoya said harshly, "I'm not going to give you a free meal if that's what you want."

Elayne replied, "_Please_ don't give us food. That's the _last _thing we want at this point!"

Sara translated, "What Elayne means to say is that we already have enough perishable food. We really need to work on eating it before it goes bad."

Matoya said, "Oh, alright. You can stay if you want. But only because a young lady shouldn't be wandering about in the rain all night."

Sara replied, "Thank you, but you know men have the same risk of becoming sick as women do."

Matoya responded, "But women are the ones who need to be pretty and clean all the time to attract a good husband."

Elayne muttered, "I guess you learned that the hard way, now didn't you?"

Matoya asked, "Why, you sound just like that insolent little brat from five years ago that tried to buy a love potion off of me for 30 gil."

Elayne shot back, "Well you charge too much for the stupid stuff! I mean, a million gil? What a rip off! Who's got that kind of money nowadays?"

Matoya said, "I only charge that much when a little whelp tries to buy one. Normally they're 500 gil. Would you like one? I feel sorry for the one who you'd use it on, however."

Elayne replied, "I'll pass. I don't need it anyway."

Matoya responded, "Very well. If you need a place to eat, there's a table over there."

Doma said, "Thank you."

Sara said, "We have a lot of food. Would you like to join us?"

Elayne gave Sara a dirty look.

Matoya gave out a good-hearted cackle and said, "No thank you, my dear. I'm afraid I'm not hungry."

Elayne's dirty look turned into a gleeful one. He muttered, "Yes!"

Matoya ignored him and asked, "I must ask of you child, however, to repeat your name once again. I feel I may have heard it someplace before."

Sara thought, "_That's not possible, but I might as well humor her._"

Sara stated, "Sara Hysaro."

Matoya smiled (which made her face slightly contorted) and in the light Sara could see that her right eye was missing, replace with a sunken eyelid. Sara tried hard not to stare. "Hysaro. I've heard of that clan before. A clan of powerful white wizards gifted with a life that would supposedly never end. It escapes me where they came from and where they went. All I know is that they disappeared long ago. It's nice to meet another Hysaro to prove they are still alive and well."

Sara gave a confused glance at Matoya and said, "That's not possible, though, I come from an entirely different world."

Matoya asked, "You are a white mage, are you not?"

Sara nodded and said, "Yeah…why? I just happened to have a knack for it."

Matoya said, "Are you related to a white mage or wizard."

Sara shook her head, "No, there isn't any magic where I come from. Though there are a few crazy people who say they are psychic…but nobody magic. Even the magicians are just masters at the slide of hand."

Matoya stated, "Then how do you explain your abilities. Magic is an inherited trait, though few people know it because almost everybody is related to a wizard at one point or another along their family tree. If you are correct in your assumption that there was no magic where you came from, then you would not have your healing abilities."

Sara said, "Well, maybe at some point along the way there were a few white wizards in the past, like, over 2000 years ago which we don't know about."

Matoya said, "It would have been bred out within 2000 years."

Elayne exclaimed, "Unless there's something about her family she's not telling us."

He laughed and both Doma and Homac hit him at the same time. He wavered on his feet a little and when he regained his sense he said, "What? It was a joke!"

Sara said, "Could you guys stop hitting Elayne? You're going to give him a concussion or brain damage."

Doma replied, "Well, if he gets brain damage at least we can say he had a brain to begin with."

Elayne shouted indignantly, "Hey!"

Sara then turned back toward Matoya and said, "Well, I've got to go eat."

She sat down in the chair and started to make the sandwiches. When she had finished and handed them out Elayne asked, "You have fun at the old people's club?"

Sara asked, "What do you have against the elderly?"

Elayne replied, "They're all senile. They say stuff that makes no sense at all and ramble on about their glory days and when their done, they forget and tell it all to you _again_. It's irritating."

Sara said, "Then all the elderly you met had alheimers." (I think I spelled this wrong, but it's the closest I can get without searching in a medical book. I tried a dictionary, but to no avail)

Elayne gave her a blank look. Sara said, "It's a disease that makes you forget everything. I'm not sure but after a while I think they forget how to breathe and end up dying or something along those lines."

Elayne chuckled and Sara gave him a dirty look and said, "It's not funny."

Elayne did a crude impression of an old person. Sara continued her look. Elayne finished up and said, "Okay, I'm sorry. Happy now? I don't know why you like old people considering you supposedly have a life which will never end. You'll be young forever."

Sara gave him a confused glance, "Huh?"

Homac said, "Matoya did say that."

Sara said, "But if that's true that my family is immortal then my great-grandma would still be alive."

Matoya said, "I never said immortal, I said she wouldn't get old."

Doma asked, "So, I don't mean to pry into your personal life but…what did your great-grandmother die of anyway?"

Sara said, "Cancer. I never actually knew her. She had grandma and shortly after my mother was born she died. I had some pictures of her, but that was before she met my great-grandpa."

Homac changed the subject, "These are really good, Sara."

Sara blushed slightly from the unexpected compliment and said, "Well, sandwiches are kinda hard to mess up…"

Homac stated, "Well, splitting the bread is kinda hard without a knife. Why didn't you ask for one?"

Sara said, "I don't trust the knives available. They've all be used for cutting creatures and other non-edible, disgusting things."

Elayne stated, "She trusts the old people, but she's weary of knives. Hilarious. Simply, hilarious."

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I had originally aimed to have more than two chapters added by school work got in the way and my grandparents came to visit during the first half of spring break and there were thunderstorms during the second half. But if it's any consolation, this is the longest chapter yet! 


	11. Homecoming

Don't you love updated chapters? I hope so, because here's another one for ya.

Disclaimer: I don't own it yet and don't plan to because when I own it all hell will break loose.

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Chapter 10: Homecoming

With the passing on of the storm came the breaking of dawn and the arrival of the moment when the group had to leave. They had gathered their belongings and exited the cave. Matoya, blind as she might be, managed to follow them out the entrance with the help of one of her brooms. Before leaving Doma said, "Thank you Matoya for housing us through the storm. I hope your crystal eye will be returned to you soon."

Homac and Sara also thanked the witch. Elayne, however, kept his silence with an expression upon his face clearly stating that he'd wish they'd hurry up and get on with their journey. Doma elbowed him harshly and Elayne mouthed an ouch and gave a spiteful glance to him before sighing, "I guess I'll say thank you, too."

Matoya smiled and said, "Oh, it was no trouble at all. I'll sure miss you all, though some more than others."

Elayne gave her a hateful glance (he's full of them lately) and Sara also elbowed him. Elayne said, "Sheesh, you're gonna break my ribs if you keep doing that!"

Homac lectured, "One must always be respectful of one's elders."

"Right. Well, can we get a move on already? We've got a long way to go and we're losing sunlight."

Doma said, "Please, it's only 20 miles, if that. Again, thank you, Matoya."

"You're welcome anytime. Goodbye, and good luck!"

They continued their journey by retracing their steps through the forest. Sara asked, "So we're going to Pravoka, right?"

Homac nodded and said, "Yes. But first we will be stopping by our hometown, Jedric. It's along the way, and the townsfolk would be glad to see that we're alright."

"I wish I could see my family again. They must be worried sick by now."

Doma nodded. "Your father must be looking for you."

"Yeah. Well, actually, the police will be doing most of the hunting."

Elayne gave her a confused look. "Um…police?"

Sara laughed, "They're the law enforcement where I come from."

Homac asked, "Like the palace guards?"

"Yeah."

Down from the tree behind Homac slithered down the biggest snake Sara had ever seen. It was black with an almost orange colored underbelly. It rose its head and revealed a hood characteristic to a cobra. The hood had a vivid eyelike image bordered by a bright red streak which broke of at the outside of each eye into a spiral. It opened its mouth and Sara could see two large and sharp fangs protruding from the top.

She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. Luckily, Homac noticed the attempt and looked around. He soon found himself face to face with the cobra. It let out a loud hiss and struck out at him.

Homac reacted quickly and the snake only latched on to the wooded staff. Venom seeped out of its fangs and dripped down from the staff to the damp, leafy compost below. Doma took advantage of the cobra's vulnerable disposition to decapitate it. The snake let loose one last hiss of agony before its body fell to the ground with a loud thump. Homac pried the head from his staff and said, "Well, that really got the adrenaline going."

They continued along the river's edge with their guard up. Soon after the fight they were attacked by a band of goblins. They gave out a battle-cry and charged. All six found themselves dead at the end of a weapon within minutes. After collecting the gil the group had moved on.

After half an hour of traveling through the forest they found themselves at the edge of a sandy desert. Sara asked Homac, "Um, are you sure you really want to be wearing black through the desert?"

"Don't worry, it's cooler than you think. Trust me."

They were about to leave the forest when Elayne said, "Wait."

"What?" Asked Sara.

Elayne smiled and said, "This plant secretes a special oil which helps to protect against the sun. While you and Homac may be shielded from the harsh rays, me and Doma aren't."

Sara corrected, "Doma and I."

"I just got through telling you that you're fine."

"No, I mean that you are supposed to say Doma and I instead of me and Doma. I don't know, it's just some grammar thing."

Elayne rolled his eyes. "Right. Well, _Doma and I _will need some kind of protection against the sun."

After applying protection the group finally entered the desert. It was noon, and the sun's position in the sky made passing the desert almost an impossibility. Sara could see steam rising up from the baking sand and not even the few cactuses around could provide relief.

Despite her white cloak, Sara could feel the heat radiating into her face. She looked around and saw that the others were sweating also. Forcing herself to press onward, she soon found herself getting dizzy from the heat. She took a swig from her canteen, yet still was tortured by the heat.

Homac noticed Sara's depleting condition and asked, "Sara, are you alright?"

"I think I'm going to have a heat stroke."

She took another long swig from her canteen. This continued for a few moments until Sara found her canteen was empty. Dizzy and unable to think straight, she still continued to press onward without asking one of the guys for help. When she saw a small lake of water to her right she thought, "_Okay, that is obviously a mirage. I really need to get out of this heat soon._"

Homac kept glancing off to his right to check on Sara with a look of worry on his face. He had chosen to keep close to her in case she collapsed. He asked, "Sara, do you want to drink some of my water?"

She didn't respond and Homac took hold of her arm and repeated, "Do you want some water, Sara?"

She placed her free hand on her forehead and wavered on her feet. Seconds later she collapsed and fell upon Homac, who tried hard to stay upright. He then gently lowered her to the ground and say, "Hey, guys! Sara passed out!"

Elayne and Doma turned around and Elayne said, "She's obviously never been through the desert before."

Homac ignored the statement and took out his canteen. He removed the top and placed it gently against her agape lips and a small amount of water trickled down her throat. Doma said, "The forest isn't that far off. we should get her into the shade."

Homac grabbed her up bridal style and Doma cocked an eyebrow. "Do you really intend to carry her half a mile through the desert? Granted she's not very heavy I'm sure, but you aren't one of the strongest fellows here you know."

"Uh…good point."

He handed her over to Doma who placed her over his shoulder and continued along the way. Luckily, they weren't attacked and made it the forest within five minutes. Under the canopy of the forest, Doma scanned his surroundings and found no obvious dangers. He then carefully put her down and sprinkled a little water from his own canteen on her face. Her eyes slowly opened and sat up. She looked dazed for a moment until she recovered her memory and blushed slightly from embarrassment. "I'm sorry! I've never been in the desert before. I didn't know that I'd get so stupid."

Homac said, "Hey, it's alright."

Elayne joked, "Heck, Homac did the same thing the first time through the desert. Though nobody opted to carry him through the desert nicely like we did for you. Nah, we just dragged him through the rest of the desert and dumped him in the river when we were out."

Homac scratched his head with embarrassment. "So, Sara, are you alright now?"

Sara got to her feet and said, "Yeah, I'll be fine."

With that they continued along the course of the forest. Halfway through, they encountered a goblin, a goblin guard, and two vicious looking wolves kept on a tight restraint. Upon spotting the humans, the goblins released the wolves on them. However, the wolves obviously weren't tame enough to accept orders and the goblins soon found themselves at the jaws of the wolves.

Using the momentary distraction, the group quickly and quietly exited the scene. The wolves took no notice of the group's absence as they gorged upon the goblins' carcasses.

Once out of danger Sara asked, "What was _that_ about?"

Homac stated, "Goblins trying to tame wolves. I seriously doubt that they're ever going to get the wolves to obey them though."

"Oh. Alright."

They soon exited the forest and immediately encountered a herd of Crazy Horses. Enraged by the sudden appearance, the largest of the quartet stoop up on his hind-legs and whinnied loudly sending the other three on a charge.

Homac quickly started charging up a ball of electricity as Doma and Elayne distracted the charging horses. Sara took a deep breath and lifted her hammer up into the air. Energy pulsed through her body and flowed out of her hammer. It then manifested itself as a perfect image of herself and the doppelganger took its position of keeping the third horse away from Homac.

By the time Sara finished her magic Homac's thunder had been finished. It flew through the air over Elayne and hit the leader directly. It gave a brutal and agonizing cry as the electricity flowed through its body. Sara could almost see the bones through the skin like an X-ray before it toppled over and the jolt died out.

Doma and Elayne somehow managed to defeat their own horses by the time the leader was killed and Sara soon saw her illusionary clone stomped by the hard hoofs of the remaining horse and disappear. She couldn't help but wince when she saw it. The horse was then taken care of by both Doma and Elayne.

Traveling a while along the clearing they found themselves approaching yet another forest and a goblin guard trying to handle two wolves. The wolves had managed to get free and one of them killed and ate the goblin. The other, however, had left the small fry upon smelling the humans. Licking its jaws, the wolf made its way toward them.

Doma struck the first blow and made a deep gash in the wolf's head. It snarled viciously and pounce upon him. Doma held his sword straight in front of himself and the wolf, already in midair, leaped to its death.

Doma removed the wolf from his sword and the remaining wolf, still hungry after its meal, looked at Sara as a possible dessert. It leaped toward her and Sara swung her hammer violently against it.

The wolf was knocked over to the side and it let out a whimper before Elayne finished it off. Sara said, "I think I'm getting the hang of this."

Homac replied, "You are. You've definitely improved, that's for certain."

Sara smiled. "Yeah, well I could be better."

Elayne stated, "It's the simple rule in life. There will always be someone better than you, and even if there isn't, there is always room for improvement. Everybody could be better, and that's a fact."

They continued on through the forest and soon encountered a sort of a dirt road through the forest. Elayne said, "Finally! We're almost home!"

Doma looked up at the sky. Through the canopy he could see patches of orange indicating the setting sun. "It's a good thing. It's almost nighttime."

Walking along the path, they soon found themselves facing a small clearing containing a village of log cabins. To Sara it looked to be something taken from the pages of a fairy tale. There was a single road leading through it, and it branched off toward each house. Sara could see that there were only about a dozen or so houses, and most of them has smoke rising out of their chimney. The only house that wasn't made out of logs was one two-story house made out of brick which was next to the inn, towering over the smaller houses. Sara guessed that whoever lived there was most likely rich, or at least richer than the others.

As for the log cabins, there were two windows in the front of each house, each with curtains of varying color between the houses. Each house had a tile roof in various colors, and some houses had a small garden in front growing flowers, while others had a larger one in the back for growing crops. While there wasn't a store to be found, the was an inn slightly smaller than the one in Cornelia for weary travelers on their way to Pravoka and a couple wells for water.

There were a few women outside hanging up laundry and a few small children running around within the village while their mothers finished up their work. The group entered the clearing and one of the women looked over. After looking them over she gave an excited shout. "They've returned! Everybody, come quick! They're back!"

Suddenly the sleepy looking village came to life as everybody rushed from their homes to greet Doma, Elayne, and Homac. The boys rushed forward to greet their families. As Sara looked upon this happy scene she felt a sudden wave of homesickness. She sighed and silently wished her own family could have been there to greet her.

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I actually forgot what I did here. Probably corrected some grammatical errors. Yeah, that seems safe to say. 


	12. Jedric

Hello again, my fellow readers! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while but I didn't get many reviews (just 2) so I guess it wasn't missed (sniff). Anyway, you should be very glad considering I stayed up to 5:30 writing this chapter and spent an additional couple hours afterward editing it so a lot of time went into this and I hope that you enjoy it.

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Chapter 11: Jedric

As Sara gazed longingly out at the welcoming committee, a smooth voice snapped her out of her stupor, "Why, hello there."

Sara jumped a little out of shock and turned around. Behind her was a man who looked about a couple years older than herself. He was dressed in elegant attire, with a red hat placed on his head with a long feather stuck out of it. He was dressed as if he were going out to a fancy ball, with a red cape and a red suit underneath it covering his frail looking frame. His suit had so much detail that it would be tedious mentioning it all here, and it contained so much red that the color seemed to burn itself into Sara's eyes.

Apart from his formal attire, the man himself had a fair complexion, with blonde hair and brown eyes which looked eerily familiar. Sara replied, "Uh, hello. Who are you?"

The man smiled and said, "I could ask you the same."

Sara responded, "I'm Sara Hysaro. I'm one of those in the prophecy apparently."

The man said, "Isaac Claribaggins."

Isaac reached out and grasped Sara's hand gently. Bringing it up to his lips, he kissed it. Sara had always found the ritual of kissing a lady's hand unnecessary and somehow disgusting so it brought a grimance to her face.

Pulling her hand rather harshlyout of his hand, and in anattempt toescape, said, "Well, I've got to be goingnow."

Isaac smile faultered a little, as he saw whatever he was trying to do fail. Then he resumed his normal smile, and somehow it made Sara nervous, "Must you? After all, they'll be here all night, while I'm due to leave in about an hour."

A stronghandgently grasped Sara's shoulder and she jumped out of shock. She looked up at the culprit and saw a man who look about Isaac's age. He was wearing a blue shirt which didn't in the least bit cover up his muscles with a red belt around his blue pants. His hair was brown, and his eyes were a fair blue. He wore a red headband around his head and a red wristband on each wrist. He was alsofairly large, and Sara thought that he might even be stronger than Doma.

The man looked down and smiled at Sara for a minute. The smile was friendly and put Sara somewhat at ease despite her never seeing him before in her life. He then said, "Leave her alone, Isaac. She obviously doesn't want anything more to do with you."

Isaacsmile quickly turned intoa scowl, and he looked back at Sara, "Very well then. Sara, if you would rather mingle with these low-lives then so be it."

He walked away and Sara let out a sigh of relief. The large man let go of Sara's shoulder and said, "Sorry if I frightened you."

Sara shook her head, "No, it's alright. Thank you."

He resumed hissmileand said, "Hey, no problem. I take it you are also a crystal bearer?"

Sara nodded. "Yeah, the green one."

He replied, "Oh, so you are the bearer of the wind crystal."

Sara reached into her pocket and drew it out to look at it. The man also gazed at it with some amazement. "So, that's what this is?"

He nodded and continued, "There are four crystals, with four elements that they represent. These elements are fire, earth, water, and wind. The crystal you and the others bear are the indicators for their larger counterparts, showing us the condition that the actual crystals are in. You see how this one is faded?"

Sara glanced at it and nodded. Curious about what it meant, she asked,"What does that mean, exactly?"

He explained, "What it means is that something is causing the crystal of the wind to fade by stealing its power. We don't know what's causing this, but we do know that something is. The effects are most obvious in Melmond, with the earth rotting. The nutrients that used to dwell in the soil are being drained by some unknown force. Oh, forgive me, I've failed to introduce myself. The name's Arvis Kenon. I'm a monk."

Sara replied, "I thought monks had a vow of silence."

Arvis responded, "I'm not sure where you got your information, but I regret to inform you that you are wrong."

Sarafelt a little embarrassed and said, "Well, sorry. The name's Sara Hysaro."

Arvis smiled and said, "Pleased to meet you. Could I ask you something?"

Sara nodded and he continued, "Why exactly aren't you over there with Doma, Elayne, and Homac anyway? The other villagers would be very pleased to discover the final crystal bearer."

Sara shook her head and gazed back over to the crowd, saying, "I just feel out of place here. I don't even belong in this world, much less this village."

A perplexed look etched itself on Arvis' face and he asked, "What exactly do you mean?"

Sara shook her head yet againand sighed, "Nothing. I don't feel like explaining myself. Sorry."

Helooked disappointed, yetreplied, "Hey, no problem. Well, if you aren't going to meet them yourself at the very least I can point them out. Just look into the crowd and point someone out that you want me to explain."

Sara asked, "Who's Isaac anyway?"

Arvis frowned and said, "He's just an asshole who happens to be the son of the mayor in this town."

Sara asked, "Mayor? I thought this world was ruled by kingdoms, not democracy."

Arvis replied, "Yeah, well in villages as small as this one, especially so far away from the kingdom, it's more beneficial to let them elect their own leader. Plus the village's too small to create a good enough army to try to…remove the village from the kingdom's control. Well as I was saying, Isaac is the son of the mayor of this town and its gotten to his head. In fact, he's Homac's cousin."

A look of astonishment was on Sara's face. "Really? I thought he looked a little familiar. They don't seem anything alike though."

Arvis said, "Homac's family is one of the poorest in the village."

Sara asked, "Why doesn't his family help out?"

Arvis took in a breath and stated, "I'd rather not explain that. It's pretty long."

Sara was silent and looked back at the crowd. She then spotted Homac being dragged away by a pretty looking blonde haired girl. Sara asked, "Is that Homac's girlfriend?"

Arvis looked over and said, "She wishes. That's Lanna Hikari. She's had a crush on Homac since she was five. Unfortunately for her he's never reciprocated those feelings."

Arvis started laughing and Sara asked, "What?"

He replied, "Oh, nothing. Just remembering a little bit of the past. Good times."

A door to a house next to them opened up to reveal a teenage girl with unruly curly red hair and brown eyes. She was rubbing those eyes and was wrapped in a nightgown. She yawned and said sleepily, "What's all the racket, I'm trying to…"

She trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished. He eyes were wide in shock. She looked around the crowd desperately and her eyes stopped dead at one person. "Doma?" she spoke under her breath with a hopeful tone.

Arvis said, "Yep. He just arrived, Lydia."

Lydia looked at what she was wearing and rushed back inside. A few moments later she was back outside with neater looking hair and a decent outfit on. She then rushed out into the crowd toward him. Doma didn't notice for a second but as she drew closer he caught sight of her and held his arms out. The crowd parted for a second to let Lydia pass and she ran into Doma's arms. He wrapped his arms around her and said something inaudible to Sara's ears. Tears were running down Lydia's face and her smile let Sara see that they were tears of joy. She then said, "Let me guess: Doma's girlfriend?"

Arvis nodded to comfirmitand said, "She's also my sister. They've been together for almost two years. Now, come on."

Sara looked to Arvis and asked, "What?"

Arvis replied, "We've talked about them for some time, now let's go meet them."

Sara started, "But…"

Arvis cut her off and said, "Relax. They'll like you. They'll love to see you. You'll see."

Sara continued, "I really don't want to interrupt…"

Arvis gently pushed her toward the crowd and said, "Nonsense. They're not doing anything."

Sara started to spout out another excuse but before she could even start she was face to face with the majority of the crowd. Arvis stopped pushing her and stepped aside. Sara looked around said, "Um…hi."

She waved timidly with a small smile on her face. She felt small under the intensity of their slightly confused and curious stares and she wished she could disappear. Homac removed himself from Lanna's grasp and walked up next to her. Lanna was disappointed and threw a spiteful glance at Sara. Homac then said, "This is Sara. She is also crystal bearer."

The crowd stated a few scattered greetings with sounded almost like gibberish with the number of people saying them at different times. Elayne separated himself from the small group of giggling girls he was apparently flirting with and walked up to Sara also, exclaiming, "Come on, everybody! You can do better than that! Come on, let's give it up for the best white mage in Gaia!"

Elayne's attempt to help simply made Sara feel worse. She couldn't help a blush from coming over her face as she meekly said, "I'm not the best white mage…"

The crowd, who were quite used to Elayne's exaggerations, greeted Sara with a little more strength and enthusiasm as the shock of the appearance of the uninvited guest wore off. Sara blushed more and stared at the ground.

The crowd laughed and Sara felt if possible even worse. Then a woman emerged from the crowd stating, "Oh, come on! You'll make her run away if you keep that up!"

When she had separated from the crowd, Sara could see a short, slightly dumpy woman with brown eyes and black hair. She walked up to Sara and put her hand under Sara's chin, gently lifting her head up. "Now, see there? You've got a very pretty face and there's no point in hiding it like that. Chin up!"

Homac stated, "Mom, leave her alone. You're just going to make it worse."

She replied sharply, "Ridiculous! Someone's got to do it and it might as well be me."

Homac put a hand to his forehead and shook his head out of embarrassment. He then said, "Sara, this is my mother. She can be a little odd at times, but she's really a nice woman."

Sara said, "How do you do?"

Homac's mother replied, "I'm fine."

She then turned to the crowd and said rather harshly, "Now scoot! Nothing else to see here!"

A few moans of complaint followed but the crowd broke up and was scattered throughout the village. The only ones that remained were Homac, Doma, and Lydia.

Homac's mother pointed out a house and said, "Now, if you feel like you want to go inside, that's my home."

Sara said, "Thank you, Mrs. Higashi."

There was an awkwardsilence until Homac's motherfinally said, "Call me Hina if you would."

Sara amended, "Okay, then thank you Hina."

Hina smiled and walked off. Lydia then said, "Well, hi. I saw you talking to my brother a little earlier. How long have you been with Doma and the others?"

Sara replied, "About a week or so."

Lydia asked, "Where do you come from?"

Sara smiled and said, "You wouldn't know it."

Lydia pouted and said, "What's _that _supposed to mean?"

Sara quickly replied, "No, really! You wouldn't know it. I'd be surprised if anyone in this world knew it. I'm not insulting your intelligence, honestly!"

Lydia asked, "Try me. I happen to be a bit of an expert of geography. I could probably name off every single town and city in Gaia, not to mention the deserts and mountains."

Sara sighed and said, "Tokyo, Japan."

Lydia looked dumbfounded and said, "Okay, I guess you're right. I wouldn't know where it is. I've never even heard of such a place. Oh, I've got an idea!"

She took a map out of her pocket and said, "I usually keep this around in case I ever need it. Point it out!"

Sara sighed yet again and pushed the map away,saying, "Nowhere on this map. If I had some of my school books I could show you my world but I don't."

Lydia's eyes widened and she said excitedly, "Another world? I knew it! I knew there were other worlds! See, I told you Doma! You didn't believe me but I was right!"

Lydia did a little hop of excitement and she continued, "So, what's the name of the planet in this world you come from?"

Sara answered, "…Earth."

Lydia had an awed look on her face and she said, "Wow, I've never even heard of that planet…"

She smiled brightly and said, "I'm sorry. I've kinda got this theory going that there are other dimensions to this world. No one else believes me of course, but you are living proof that I'm right."

She squealed a little in excitement and Sara replied, "Um…you're welcome?"

Lydia then exclaimed excitedly, "Oh, I've got to tell this to my brother! Come here, Doma! You're going to serve as my witness!"

She grabbed hold of Doma's hand and dragged him off toward her house. A look on Doma's face clearly cried out for help. No help came his way, however, and he soon disappeared from Sara's sight.

Sara then noticed that Homac was looking at a point somewhere a little beyond her with a certain look of disdain on his face. Sara looked around and to her dismay found Isaac headed her way. When he was a couple feet away he stopped, grinned at Sara, and turned toward Homac. "Well, look who decided to come back."

Homac said in a tone that he hoped would come out defiant but wound up being a rather weak, "Leave us alone."

Isaac's eyes widened a little in a surprised manner, but that cruel grin remained plastered on his face. Sara looked at the two and wondered how these two could ever be related. "Well now, trying to grow a backbone to impress the little lady? Shame it's as fragile as a toothpick."

Homac didn't say a word, but threw a spiteful glance toward him that was hard to see due to the dimming light and his hat. Sara thought to herself, "Where does he get off being so mean? That's it. I've had enough of this guy for one day. I'm not going to take this lying down."

Sara walked between the two and exclaimed, "Why don't you leave him alone? It's the first time he's been home in who knows how long and he doesn't need this torment on top of the responsibility to save the world. I may not know much about this world and how it works, but I know people and I don't like people like you. So go hell and out of our sights!"

Homac had a surprised look on his face which Sara couldn't see and he looked down a little out of embarrassment. Isaac took one last look at the two of them and said, "Very well then, Homac. If you need a woman to fight your battles that so be it. As for you, Sara, I hope you have fun eating scrapes of food and wearing tattered old rags."

With that he walked away and Homac said, "Listen, Sara, I appreciate you trying to help me but this is my battle to fight, not yours."

Sara turned around and yelled, "Then fight it!"

With that she stormed off to cool down some leaving a very shocked Homac behind. Elayne, who apparently heard Sara's outburst while continuing his flirtatious ways, abandoned the women and walked over to Homac and said, "Nice little firecracker, isn't she?"

Homac remained silent and continued staring off in the direction Sara stormed off in. Elayne shrugged and said, "Fine. Don't talk to me. Speaking of firecrackers, I was thinking of letting some off sometime tonight."

Homac replied, "You know that's a bad idea. It'd attract monsters and the last thing we need right now is a monster attack."

Elayne shrugged and said, "Eh, suit yourself."

He walked off leaving Homac alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Sara was sitting down leaning against a building trying to cool herself off. It's been a while since she'd gotten that worked up, and felt a little bad she had yelled at Homac also. Still, another part of her still believed he needed a good shock to get him to stand up for himself. As she sat silently in the dark watching people lighting up lanterns outside their houses she felt that boiling anger slowly work itself out on its own. 

"There you are!"

Sara looked up to see the somewhat familiar face of Lydia (it was kinda hard to tell in the dark, and if it hadn't been for the lantern Sara doubted she'd see anything at all except the stars). Lydia then continued, "Hey, I've been looking for you. Everyone's over at the pub right now for kind of a celebration."

Sara raised an eyebrow and said, "The pub?"

Lydia understood what Sara meant and explained, "No, they're not all drinking. As if we'd let people like Elayne drink. He's stupid enough without it."

Sara defended, "He's not stupid."

Lydia replied, "Oh, wait until you've known him for as long as I have. He may not be stupid himself, but he sure can do some stupid things. So come on, let's go!"

Sara stood up and Lydia looked over her somewhat dirty cloak with an obvious look of disdain. She then said, "On second thought, let's get you something nice to wear. Follow me."

With no word of opposition Sara followed Lydia all the way to her house where she ran toward her room. With a little bit of uncertainty, Sara stood at the entrance until Lydia called, "Come on!"

Sara stepped inside and closed the door. She then moved in the direction of Lydia's voice until she at last found her room. It was a fairly small room with a small bed, a window with purple curtains, a wooden desk with papers all over it and a globe. Lydia had opened the door to her closet and was looking through the dresses she had. Glancing over at Sara and then back at the dresses she picked out a simple dark green dress and said, "It's a good thing we're roughly the same size, otherwise we'd have some trouble finding you an outfit. Is this good?"

Sara nodded and said, "Yeah. Are you sure, though?"

Lydia laughed good-heartedlyand said, "Of course I'm sure! Besides, it's not like you're going to keep it. I'll wear this one."

She picked out a bright red dress that looked just a bit more fancy than the one she had picked out for Sara. Lydia then said, "The bathroom's just down the hall to the right. You can change in there. It'd probably be better you kept your clothes in there too. They might get eaten by our dog if you don't."

Sara asked, "What about the crystal?"

Lydia replied, "Just leave it in there too. I promise, nothing's going to steal it."

Sara entered the bathroom and changed. With a slight look of uneasiness, she left the crystal in the pocket of her jeans and left the bathroom (which, by the way, was nothing but a bathroom. Just a tub for taking baths. Sara figured there was an outhouse around back somewhere and imagined stumbling around for it with a kind of nervousness).

Lydia had obviously finished changing and was in front of a mirror Sara had somehow missed in the bedroom putting up her red hair. The curls spiraled down to about her shoulders when she had finished. She looked over and asked, "Would you me to put up your hair?"

Sara said, "I can do it myself."

Lydia replied, "I want to do it. I like messing around with people's hair. Kind of a hobby on the side of being an expert on geography. Here, sit down."

Lydia got up off the stool she had been sitting on and motioned for Sara to sit down. So for the next few moments Sara sat in the stool staring at the mirror watching what Lydia was doing. As Lydia untangled the hair a bit she said, "Your hair is brown."

Sara replied, "Yeah. You thought it was blonde?"

Lydia responded, "Actually, yeah. I did."

Sara continued on as the spell of the hairdresser took hold, "Most people do. Except one of my friends back where I came from. She said she had always known that my hair wasn't blonde because of my attitude. Her name's Shiori, and she always had a way with reading people. I'm okay at reading people, but she's on a whole other level. Almost as if she could read their minds."

Lydia commented, "That's impossible."

Sara replied, "Well, yeah I know that but sometimes you felt like she could. One day I was upset because the guy I had a crush on in the 9th grade turned me down but for the most part I acted as if nothing was wrong. Yet she could tell, and she told me that anyone who didn't see what a wonderful person I am didn't deserve to have me. It cheered me up a lot. That's why she's my best friend."

Sara sighed and then continued, "Even though I may never see her again."

Lydia asked, "What's your family like?"

Sara explained, "Well, my dad was actually in the navy for the United States and eventually he was stationed in Okinawa, the place where I was born. He met my mother and slowly developed some kind of a romance I guess. He soon retired from the navy and decided to stay in Japan. They got married and after a while had me and decided to move to Tokyo because of Dad's new job. I was about 5 then."

Lydia asked, "So, you dad comes from a different country than your mom?"

Sara replied, "Yeah. He was stationed in Norfolk before being transferred. I guess you could say they lived halfway across the earth yet still found each other. It's roughly that distance."

Lydia replied, "How romantic! I just happened to get lucky with Doma. There. Done. What do you think?"

Sara saw that Lydia had simply tied her hair back in a bun and as if Lydia could read her mind she explained, "We're running a little low on time so I didn't mess around with it as much as I wanted to."

Sara replied, "That's okay. Thanks."

Lydia responded, "No problem. You friend sounds like someone good to have. I'd love to have a friend like that. Well, let's go!"

Lydia then led the way toward a part of the village not clearly visible at first. There weren't any houses, but there was a building that was obviously the pub. Sara asked, "So, how late are we?"

Lydia replied, "Oh, not that late at all. Not fifteen minutes."

Sara gave Lydia a disbelieving look and she said, "Well, I got you as soon as they announced they were going to have a celebration in the pub. I didn't want anybody left out of the fun."

Sara shrugged and they walked inside. The pub kinda reminded her of those in those wild old west movies she and her dad watched when she was little, with lanterns hanging down from the ceiling and tables moved toward the sides of the room from the center to make some room for the dancing people. It was hard to difficult to get around with all the dancing people. The band consisted of people playing various instruments and a vocalist spilling out the lyrics to the various songs they played. The music was lively if a bit old-fashioned to Sara's ears. Still, it was a great beat to dance to.

Lydia looked around and said, "Oh, there's Doma over there with Homac!"

Sara gave a little scan of her own and asked, "Any idea where Elayne is?"

Lydia replied, "Oh, probably trying to con the bartender into giving him a beer or some other immature thing he always does."

They worked their way through the crowd and finally made it to Doma's table where Doma immediately greeted Lydia, "Hey, you made it! I was wondering if you were even going to show up."

Lydia smiled and said, "I just had to get another guest ready."

Doma said, "Yeah, I noticed. You lent Sara one of your dresses? That was nice. Say, would you like something to drink?"

Lydia replied, "Nothing alcoholic."

Doma stood up and teased, "Now, you know I wouldn't give you something like that! Wait here a minute"

Lydia nodded and sat down in Doma's seat while Sara took a seat next to Homac. He looked up at her from under his hat and said, "You look nice."

Sara smiled a little and said, "Thanks. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Homac shook his head and said, "It's alright."

Sara shook her own head and said, "No, it's not alright. It's never alright to yell at a friend."

Homac shrugged and his face appeared to disappear under his hat again. Sara could tell that this probably meant he was finished talking and sat in her chair in silence. She didn't have to sit long though, because just a few seconds after Homac stopped talking Elayne showed up and asked, "Hey Sara. Care to dance?"

Sara was taken aback by the offer, but after a few seconds of mulling it over she replied, "Alright."

Elayne offered his hand and Sara grabbed hold of it and got out of the chair. Then right before they left Elayne turned towardHomac andsaid, "Great. See ya Homac."

Homac turned his head slightly and waved a little. He then glanced at Lydia who was too wrapped up in her own thoughts about Doma that she had missed the whole entire thing and then went back to his former position.

Doma soon showed up with a glass of water for Lydia and after taking a sip she said, "Okay, let's go dance now!"

Doma smiled and said, "Sure thing. What's wrong Homac?"

Homac looked up and said, "Nothing. Have fun."

Lydia replied, "We will! Don't stay there for too long though or you might grow roots!"

His face was hidden completely by his hat and she couldn't tell if he had found her joke funny so she decided to leave him alone in favor of dancing with her boyfriend. Homac looked up and glanced around the crowd until he found Elayne and Sara. With a slight sigh he watched as they danced.

* * *

Elayne twirled and dipped Sara to the beat of the music and when the beat had changed from a lively beat to a slower tune they had switched over to slow dancing along with it. Sara said, "You're a great dancer." 

Elayne smiled and replied, "I know I am."

Sara responded sarcastically, "Well, you're a modest one."

Elayne defended, "Hey, modesty takes practice!"

Sara smiled came back, "Well, you should definitely practice."

Elayne laughed with a sly look in his clear blue eyes and said, "Well maybe I'll practice my 'slide of hand' while I'm at it."

Sara continued smiling but said sternly, "You better keep your hands right where they are."

Elayne laughed and said, "I'm just having a little fun. You do know it's not slide of hand though, right? It's slight of hand."

Sara's face took on a shocked expression as she said, "Really? My dad pronounces it like slide of hand."

Elayne shrugged the best he could and said, "Well, it's slight. Don't worry. I'm sure you're not the only one who thinks it's slide of hand. Hell, I'm surprised you even know the expression."

Sara smiled and said, "Well, let's get back to dancing, okay?"

* * *

As Homac watched silently, he failed to notice a certain hazel eyed blonde beauty in a light blue dress until she finally spoke, "Hey!" 

That brought Homac back to his senses as he stared vacantly at the girl standing before him, "Lanna?"

Lanna smiled sweetly and said, "That's right. Why don't you and I go dancing?"

Homac replied, "Uh…" and looked back over toward Elayne and Sara. Lanna followed the gaze and pouted up immediately. "Oh, forget her! You've known her for how long?" and without even giving Homac a chance to answer she continued, "Not long! But you've known me foreeever!" drawing out the "e" to make it even more dramatic and exaggerated than it already was. "Besides," Lanna continued, "She's already picked her dancing partner. So come on and dance with me!"

Without giving Homac a choice in the matter she dragged him from his seat onto the dance floor where Homac pretty much stood there vacantly as if his mind was somewhere out there in outer space. Lanna, getting quite annoyed, grabbed his arms again and said, "You put this hand here and you hold my hand in the other."

Like a human-sized doll Homac simply kept that position and danced with no real emotion at all. Lanna didn't care at this point however and said softly, "See? Isn't this soooo romantic? If I could just live in this moment forever with you I would."

Homac gave kind of a meaningless grunt in reply but Lanna either didn't notice or didn't care.

* * *

As the evening dragged on and made it increasingly harder to keep one's eyelids open the time for sleeping had arrived (as indicated by the firecrackers Elayne let off outside while Sara was on her bathroom break. Luckily, nothing attacked). 

Leaving the pub (which was due to close soon anyhow) the citizens of Jedric tucked themselves away into a soundless slumber within their homes. There was a kind of debate going on about where Sara would sleep but considering that her clothes were inside of Lydia and Arvis' house that matter was decided rather quickly.

Sara may have been tired and ready to call it a night even on a sheet on the floor, but her new roommate wouldn't allow her to drift off just yet. "So where were you all evening?"

Sara replied sleepily, "Dancing with Elayne."

Lydia was slightly shocked but then a little smile came over her face and said, "Hey, if you marry Elayne and I marry Doma we'll be sisters-in-law!"

Sara said between a yawn, "But Elayne…is just a…friend."

Lydia shrugged and said, "Homac was acting a little odd tonight."

Sara was on the brink of being too sleepy to care as she said, "Oh?"

Lydia, who seemed to have all the alertness of a owl at this hour, nodded, "Yeah. He was dancing with Lanna for one thing."

Sara stifled a yawn and said, "That's nice."

Lydia shook her head and replied, "No, it's weird. Maybe he's sick or something."

Sara rubbed her eyes and was for the time being not about to pass out at any minute. She then said, "You know, Isaac was giving him some trouble today. I got Isaac to go away but I kinda snapped on Homac a little too."

Lydia snapped her fingers and said, "That's got to be it! Homac's a sensitive guy and you hurt his feelings."

Sara replied, "Well, I did apologize at the very least. I hope he can forgive me."

Lydia said, "Don't worry about it. He'll forgive you. He's gonna have to if you guys are going to be saving the world."

Sara remained silent and rested her arms and head on her knees as she entered a deeper level of thinking. After a long pause she said, "You know, when I met them they didn't seem to know too much of what they needed to do. They still don't have that much of a clue actually. But your brother seems to know a lot about the crystals and other things. Why didn't they just go to him before going off to Cornelia? That way they would know more about what they have to do."

Lydia replied, "Well, Arvis got most of his information while they were well on their way to Cornelia so they missed out on that information opportunity. But Arvis surely will tell you all everything he knows before you all leave tomorrow."

Sara asked, "Do you really think we can save the world all by ourselves?"

Lydia sighed and said, "You're gonna have to. Most people are scared to death of actually getting into the action even if they have the capability to. Others, like my brother, are trying to support their families and can't get away even if they would like to. Some, like Isaac, are just total jerks who don't give a damn about anybody but themselves. And still others are people who don't want to interfere with Lukahn's prophecy, and put blind faith in it."

Sara replied, "You don't seem like you fit in any of those categories from what I can tell. Want to be the navigator? You don't have to fight if you can't."

Lydia laughed and said, "Doma would never let me, and even if he could Arvis wouldn't let me. And even if by some miracle he did let me my mom would be absolutely furious. Me? Travel with my boyfriend with no parental vision? Please! Oh, I'd love to go, but Doma and Homac together are almost as good as I am, so I think you're good. Thanks for considering it."

Sara replied sleepily as her second wind died off, "No problem"

Lydia said, "Good night."

Sara replied, "Good night."

And with that she laid back in her makeshift bed and before she even finished pulling up the covers she was fast asleep.

* * *

That morning Sara woke up and found that her cloak had been washed, courtesy of Mrs. Kenon. Sara thanked her as she left the house in preparation of going to Pravoka. As a safety measure, Sara put her hands in her jeans to make sure the crystal was still present before slipping the cloak on.

On the outskirts of town she found Elayne and Homac waiting. With a confused look around she asked, "Where's Doma?"

Elayne replied, "Just getting some information and supplies. We figured we'd just wait here for him so we'll be ready to go as soon as possible."

Sara asked, "Where's the rest of the townsfolk? Wouldn't they be here to see us off?"

Elayne spouted off another answer, "Probably, but it's a little early now so they're probably still getting everything in order as well."

A sudden voice made all three people jump, "Well, hello there. Leaving already?"

The voice of Isaac Claribaggins put an instant damper on all their days. Elayne asked Homac, "Look, do you want me to do this?"

Homac shook his head and said, "I'll be fine. I can do this on my own," before approaching Isaac.

Isaac had that same, surprised look complete with that cruel smile he had on yesterday as he asked, "What are you going to do?"

Homac said slyly, "Oh, I'm going to show you what I'm going to do."

With that he drew back his fist and with the sheer shock of this whole situation, Isaac was frozen to the spot as he watched Homac's fist drive itself right smack into his nose and knocked him off his feet. A second later Isaac recovered from the blow and sat up and all three people could see he had a bad nosebleed and possibly a broken nose.

Isaac brought one of those frail looking hands of his up to the injury and took it away to look at it. The sight of blood upon his fingers shocked him so much he took one last look at Homac, this one fearful instead of cruel, and shuffled off toward his house.

Elayne laughed so hard he buckled over, while Sara was just in sheer shock over what had just transpired here. Sara then replied, "While violence may not always be the best answer, you gotta admit he deserved that one!"

Homac took a look at his slightly bloody fist with a look of disgust and wiped the blood off on the dewy grass. A minute later Doma showed up with supplies in his arms and he stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw Elayne buckled down in a laughing fit. He then asked carefully, "What did I miss?"

Sara said, "Homac took care of his little problem."

Doma cocked an eyebrow, then shook his head, figuring he didn't want to know. Moments later the rest of the village had come out to bid the warriors goodbye. Homac's mother gave him a giant hug he thought would never end, while Elayne and Doma's mother and father also bid them goodbye. Mrs. Toroth was a dainty looking woman with a nice smile and blonde hair. Mr. Toroth was a bit more rugged with the stubble of a beard that's been trying to come in all night, big muscles, and brownish hair. Mrs. Toroth said, "Take care! Try not to get hurt!"

Their father simply told Doma in a slightlyrough voice, "Look after your brother, son. You know how he always gets into trouble."

Elayne said indignantly, "I do not!"

Lanna was the last to bid them a farewell. She kissed Doma and said, "I'll be waiting for you. Be sure to come back."

Doma replied, "I will."

She smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes as she turned to Sara, "Sara, take care of him. Don't let him die on me, now. 'Cause if you do, I'm gonna getcha."

Sara smiled andgave Lydia a thumbs-up, saying, "I'll do my best!"

And with that, the three bid adieu yet again to the town in which they had grown up. And as they left their families once more, it yet again provided incentive to save the world as soon as they possibly could so that they may return to the lives they had before destiny departed them from their home. Sara was thinking of her own family, and imagined them there waving goodbye and wishing luck on her journey. Then she wiped away the stray tear as she walked toward the next leg of their journey.

* * *

There, I've fixed up some errors and added a few more details. Hope it helped. I'll see what I can do with my previous chapters, though I'll probably leave them the way they are and improve my detail next chapter. 


	13. Pravoka

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy.

I hope nobody read the original version of this chapter because it was absolutely horrible! Luckily, I think I caught it in time to change this. I have the next chapter all written and ready to be posted, but I don't want another fiasco like this to happen so I'm going to proof-read it before posting.

Oh, and I have some good news and some bad news: The bad news is that I read the Fanfiction posting rules and decided not to post the bestiary. I'm sure that nobody will care though. The good news is that I have a sequel to this planned out! I just hope the way I'm planning on doing it doesn't upsett anybody. I'll post a preview for it after this story is finished.

* * *

Chapter 12: Pravoka

The Warriors of Light continued along the dirt road with plain view of the sea, and Jedric was soon out of their sights. The scent of the salty air accompanied by the gentle waves was soothing, and the mile between Jedric and Pravoka was traveled with nary a word spoken among the group. In fact, it wasn't until the port city of Pravoka came into view that anyone said anything.

Sara got her first glimpse of Pravoka while it was still some ways off. It wasn't very large, but compared to Jedric it was a full-fledged city. The first thing she noticed was that it was surrounded by a thick wall, as was Cornelia. The second was the amount of rooftops towering over it. There were more than a dozen buildings in plain sight. Some were normal houses, yet most were stores, inns, and pubs.

As they rounded the corner of the concrete wall through the forest, she finally noticed the port. It was empty, save for one lone ship. This ship had one large sail to navigate it, and Sara saw that there were several crewmen manning the anchored ship. One was in the crow's nest, giving the travelers a vicious grin. Even with the distance between them, Sara noticed the poor teeth of this fellow, as well as the tattered, filthy clothing which he wore.

The other crewman weren't much different, save for one who looked younger than herself at about 12. He was at the steering wheel, giving a glare at the group. Sara looked away from the crew and toward the ship itself.

The wooden vessel was in somewhat poor condition. The railing was fairly weak, and Sara noticed several small holes in the deck as if it suffered injuries in a battle. There were three cannons facing them on the starboard side, and Sara could see that there were three others on the port side as well.

The name of the vessel, which had been painted on there with black paint, was chipping away yet Sara could still see that it was _The Wyvern_. Looking up to the top of the mast, past the crewman who was currently giving Sara an ugly flirtatious smile, was the grinning skull and crossbones of the Jolly Roger.

Doma sighed and said, "This might be a little difficult."

Sara looked toward him and asked, "Pirates, right? What are they doing here?"

Elayne answered, "Pravoka is a bit of a pirate's den. We usually try to avoid being here while Bikke is here, but I think we have no other choice."

The group made their way cautiously toward the city, yet the voice of the kid and the unusual sound of metal stopped them dead in their tracks. "Halt! What business have ye in Pravoka?"

The group turned around to face him. Sara noticed instantly that the kid had pulled out a musket from somewhere and was pointing it directly at her. Sara's eyes widened in shock as she realized the seriousness of their predicament. She asked frantically, "What are we going to do?"

No one answered her. After a long pause the boy found the need to repeat himself, "I said: What business have ye in Pravoka? Surely ye has noticed that Cap'n Bikke has docked here, so why would ye want to enter Pravoka?"

Elayne took several steps toward this child who nervously adjusted his aim. Sara noticed that this child must be a new recruit, not yet used to the idea of killing people. He struggled to keep a strong voice and Sara could see that he had perspired slightly from the tension. "Halt! Don't ye take one step closer to _The Wyvern_!"

Elayne replied in as gruff a voice he could manage, "Listen, kid. We're going into Pravoka, and there's nothing a pipsqueak like you or any other person you have on this ship can do about it."

Elayne sharply turned around, and Sara could see the fury etched into the boy's face at the insult. Elayne continued on into Pravoka, motioning for the others to follow. As they went deeper and deeper into the city, the boy repeated, "Halt!"

When they didn't listen he pointed the musket and fired. The round sped its way into the wall, just inches from Sara's face. She could feel the wind on her cheek, and the loud screech it made as it whizzed by her ear. It took every once of self-restraint she had to keep from screaming.

Sara worried that the boy would just reload and plug another round into her head yet no other shot was fired. Looking back some, she noticed that the aftershock of firing the bullet had sent the boy to the ground. The psychological effects seemed to be worse. Sara figured that the kid was used to people simply listening when he pointed the musket in their face and never having to fire a shot. The actions of Elayne had left the kid thoroughly rattled and unable to make another move. She resumed her gaze forward and looked around.

While the city was relatively large, there weren't many people roaming around. Many were looking at the new visitors from inside their houses. Most had a hopeful gaze, while others gave suspicious glares. One lad who happened to be outside approached them and asked frantically in a whisper, "Could you please help? Bikke and his pirate gang are terrorizing Pravoka again!"

Doma asked, "Where are they?"

The lad looked around frantically, as if he were giving away secret information and he didn't want anybody to see him, then finally pointed a trembling finger a little northwest. "T-there!"

Doma, Elayne, and Homac quickly made their way toward the location that the lad had helpfully pointed out to them, while Sara said, "Thank you for your help."

This seemed to calm him down some, and he said, "You're welcome, milady."

Sara smiled, remembering her brief acquaintance with Millie, and rushed to catch up with the group.

Taking a left at the grassy square, the group continued their way until they finally found the band of pirates. There were two pirates visible and an obvious captain barking out orders. Inside the house they were looting was a mother and her two children, all huddled together in a corner. There was no father in sight, and the three all had tears running down their faces.

The captain turned away from his men and noticed the four travelers watching him. He then said, "Hold up, boys! I think we have someone who wishes to spoil our fun!"

Several more pirates appeared with their Scimitars unsheathed. Nevertheless, Doma said, "We've come to stop you!"

Bikke laughed, and the rest of his crew followed suit. Sara noticed that most of them had poor teeth. The Captain had a very large hat, with the Jolly Roger knitted in the front. He also had a large beard, which was starting to show some signs of gray. He was wearing the typical Pirate captain garb, while Sara noticed that he still had all his body parts intact. Still, she could see a deep scar making its way down his right eye, extending as far as his jaw.

The rest of the pirate crew mostly in worse condition. While none had peg legs, about four of them had eye patches and one of them was missing an arm. When the laughter stopped, Bikke exclaimed, "Ye've got cannon balls of steel to be takin' on the great pirate Bikke!"

Despite his remark about taking him on, he continued, "Keelhaul 'em, boys!"

The crew replied, "Aye-aye, Cap'n!" and one particularly pleasant pirate added, "We'll make their bones go crunch!"

With that the nine Pirates charged toward the group. They quickly surround them, drawing the four into a tight area. Elayne said, "Well we're certainly outnumbered."

Homac replied, "Shut up."

The pirate with no arm said, "Say yer prays!"

The pirates quickly attacked, leaving Sara, Homac, and Doma only able to defend themselves. Elayne, however, had managed to parry the pirates' blows and was able to deliver several serious blows to three pirates. The pirates were reduced to collapsing on the ground and fainting due to blood lose.

The other pirates then turned to try to attack Elayne. This proved to be a fatal choice. Sara quickly swung her hammer, which was previously being used to hold off their deadly blades, and violently hit the side of one pirate's head leaving him to do nothing but pass out on the ground. Another pirate quickly attacked her blindside, and she felt the jagged edge cut a deep gash in her side. Turning around as fast as she could, she barely stopped a fatal blow. The pirate continued to attack, not letting Sara get a blow in and not letting her heal her wound.

Doma dodged several blades and managed to get in some blows himself. Taking out a couple more pirates, he noticed that Sara was in trouble. The momentary distraction enabled a pirate to attempt a fatal blow, yet Elayne managed to take the pirate out before he could finish it.

Homac was too busy trying to handle his own pirate to notice Sara's predicament. He blocked every blow, yet it also put a small nick in his wooden staff. Soon enough, the staff itself broke leaving Homac to dodge the attacks. He concentrated all his energies to casting a spell and before the pirate could get in an attack, Homac released a faint, bluish powder. The pirate breathed it in before he noticed it and fell to the ground, asleep.

Homac turned around and saw Elayne pierce the last pirate, essentially saving Sara's life. Sara quickly used her spell casting power to heal the gash on her side. It hurt to press her hand against the wound to reach it best, but the pain quickly went away as the cut healed. She turned toward Elayne and said, "Thank you."

Elayne replied, "No problem. Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine," Sara responded. Looking around, she asked, "Does anyone else need to be healed?"

Elayne shook his head and said, "I'm fine. How about you, Homac?"

Homac answered, "I'm fine, but my staff broke."

Elayne shrugged and said, "That's not too bad. You can always replace it. How about you, Doma?"

Doma said, "I'm okay."

Bikke looked around at his fallen men with a look of terror. He carefully inched away, in an attempt to escape. Doma quickly noticed Bikke's endeavor and swiftly made his way over. Holding his sword against Bikke's throat, Doma exclaimed, "Where do you think you are going?"

Bikke looked around fearfully, with his hands in the air as a sign of surrender, and then he sighed. With a look of resignation, he declared, "I be most sorry, young masters. I'll be makin' no more fuss, I swear. I want ye to take me ship fer yer troubles. Can ye find it in yer hearts to fergive an old pirate?"

Disbelieving looks went around the group. Bikke noticed this and said, "I've had meself a change of heart, I swear!"

Elayne asked, "And what do we tell the people on the ship? I don't think they'll believe just words."

Bikke sighed and replied, "Follow me."

With a final glance among the four, they complied to Bikke's demand. While Bikke lead the way, Doma kept his blade at Bikke's back should he get any wise ideas. The fearful lad from before now gazed with amazement at the four. People were starting to emerge from their homes and the city gradually gained more life.

Outside at the docks, the crew stood fast at their Captain's sudden appearance. The young boy, who apparently regained his nerve during the fight, pointed the musket at Doma. Bikke replied, "Now, now there, boy, ye put that weapon down."

The boy exclaimed, "But Uncle Bikke…"

Bikke replied harshly, "Ye will do what I say, boy! Put yer weapon down!"

With tears in his eyes, the boy complied. Bikke then exclaimed to the crew, "I've turned over a new leaf. Now these here fella's are going ta have the ship."

The crew all uttered disbelieving replies, to which Bikke responded, "Now, off the ship with ye!"

Bikke's nephew asked, "Should I take the…"

His uncle replied, "Leave it there, leave it there! Jest get off the ship, will ye?"

The entire crew complied, and Bikke turned toward the Warriors of Light, nearly cutting himself in the process. "There! _The Wyvern_ is now yers! Take care o' her!"

The statement seemed rather comical considering the ship's condition. Still, Doma replied, "We'll try."

With that Bikke took off back into town, and his crew followed. Sara climbed aboard and searched around, while Elayne immediately went below to check out the rest of the ship. Sara turned toward her remaining companions and asked, "Do any of you think you can sail a ship in this condition?"

Doma said, "Well, Bikke managed to do it so it can't be impossible."

Homac approached the railing and gave it an experimental shove. The railing bent with Homac's hand and nearly broke off. Turning toward Sara, he said, "I hope we're never in a storm. I don't think this ship could make it."

Sara shook her head and shrugged, stating, "Que será, será."

The perplexed looked on Homac's face indicated that he had no idea what that phrase meant. To clear up the confusion, Sara continued, "That means, 'what happens, happens. It's a saying where I'm from."

Homac nodded and looked out to sea. The afternoon sun was reflected in the water, making the surface glittery. Sara felt odd about hearing the ocean, yet not any seagulls. The absence of that sound made the whole scene seem rather false, as if she were watching a movie or looking at a painting. Reflecting on the issues of earlier, Sara ventured to ask, "Are muskets…common here? I didn't think that I'd see one here, in this world."

Homac replied, "Are you talking about that thing the kid almost shot you with?"

Sara nodded, and Homac sighed before beginning an explanation, "Those things aren't common. They are remnants of the ancient civilization which boasted great technological achievements before the collapse. This civilization, known as the Lufenians, made those weapons early in its history before moving on to airships. Because of the age those artifacts you called muskets, it's rare to find one and even rarer to find one that works. But really, they aren't much different than these cannons which to us are the latest invention in weaponry."

Sara let the lecture sink in. She had thought that this planet called Gaia was still in its early years of development, yet the information that there was a civilization which created airships made Sara wonder: How old was Gaia? And how far did these advances go before the collapse? Had Gaia once hosted a civilization more advanced than her own? These thoughts circled around in Sara's mind with no answer in sight until the voice of Homac interrupted them. "Are you all right, Sara?"

Sara gave Homac a blank gaze and replied, "Yeah. Why?"

Homac explained, "You look a little pale. Maybe you're getting seasick?"

Sara frowned. She had been on ships several times and not once did she ever get seasick. She didn't even feel seasick now. Homac continued, "Perhaps you should get back on the dock."

Sara didn't feel seasick, but to humor Homac, she replied, "Maybe I should."

Homac nodded and gave a concerned smile, "Be careful."

"I will," replied Sara with a smile. She walked off the ship and back into town. Elayne emerged from below the deck and said, "Hey, I found a good sword down below! I'm sure I'll find more great stuff if I keep searching."

Doma replied, "That's nice."

Elayne frowned as he sensed something was missing. He glanced around and asked, "Where's Sara?"

Homac replied, "She didn't look so well, so she got off the ship. She's somewhere in town now. At least the pirates are gone; otherwise I'd be more worried."

Elayne nodded and said, "Well, I'm going to go look for her anyways. Can't be too careful."

With that he strode off the ship to search.

Sara wandered through town, glancing at the stores and street side markets with various goods from fancy necklaces to produce. This new Pravoka was in direct contrast to the one she saw earlier. She also had noticed that the people had relocated the pirates she and the rest of the team took care of, and the blood was already being scrubbed away.

While wandering through the streets gazing at various sights she happened upon a library. Curious about literature this world may have, Sara walked inside. The library was a large, circular room with dozens of shelves lining the walls and part of the inside. The shelves were filled with books of various sizes and various ages. The second thing Sara noticed was that the library was void of people except for herself and the librarian.

Sara turned toward the librarian, who was a woman who looked about 35 with half moon spectacles slightly beneath her brown eyes. This brown haired woman's nose was deep within a book and she hardly noticed the visitor. When Sara spoke, the librarian gave a visible jump and nearly dropped her book. "Excuse me?"

"Yes? What is it that you want?"

"Am I allowed to look around here? I'm just curious about what books are here."

The library gave Sara a kind of annoyed look as she said, "Yes, go right ahead."

Sara nodded and disappeared off in the bookshelves. She gazed at the titles briefly and noticed that most of the books were either about history or do-it-yourself guides to just about everything. None of the books really caught her interest until her eyes happened upon one which made her jaw nearly drop. Saying the title of the book aloud as if it would make the whole thing make sense, "Animal Farm by George Orwell."

The sheer shock of encountering a book that had been written in her world made her instantly grab the book off the shelf, and as she did a double check she didn't notice the person approaching her. It wasn't until she caught the color red in the corner of her eye did she look up. She looked up at her new browsing buddy and was so startled that she dropped the book on the ground while gasping. The loud thud of the book echoed throughout the library, and compared to the nearly dead silence of before it was deafening. The man in the red robes and red hat apologized, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you! Are you all right?"

Sara regained her composition and replied, "Yeah."

The man before her was dressed in the same garb as Isaac of Jedric, yet the look on his face wasn't cruel. It was sincere in its concern. He had hazel colored eyes, and his hair was so fair a blonde it looked white in the dim light of the library. He bent down to pick up the book and, after glancing at the title, asked, "Are you interested in farming?"

Sara shook her head and said, "Oh, no…I'm just…looking around and happened to pick the book up."

The man had a slight disbelieving glare on his face, but it was soon replaced by the concerned look he had before. "Are you coming down with something? You're pale and you're perspiring a little."

Sara wiped her forehead off with the back of her hand. She was indeed sweating a little. She also felt slightly warm, as if she were on the onset of a fever. While she was a little concerned herself, she felt it best not to further worry the man before her. "Oh, it's just a little warm in here. Plus you did give me quite the scare. Maybe some fresh air will help."

He nodded and moved along with his browsing. Sara looked back down at the cover of the book. It now read: Animals on the Farm, by Gregory Owall. Sara could see where her error had been, and replaced the book on the shelf. Afterward, she kept true on her word and went outside.

Going outside didn't help. While she now had a breeze to cool her off, she suddenly felt dizzy and her vision was blurry. A headache soon added itself to the list of problems, and she had to sit down to keep from toppling over. A voice reached her ears, and she looked up. While the person who had spoken to her was a foot away, the voice sounded distant and she couldn't make out who it was that had come to her. She held on to consciousness for only a moment longer before passing out in his arms.

Elayne searched the city in his attempt to find Sara. He was a little nervous about not being able to find her until he finally did spot her sitting outside the library. While he was happy about finding her, he grew concerned. He rushed over and bent down. Grasping her shoulders gently, he asked, "Sara? Are you okay?"

Sara didn't say a word, but only lifted her head up to meet his eyes before passing out. Her own eyes were glazed, as if she were in a deep trance, or…

Elayne refused to let the idea cross his mind. Shaking his head violently as if to shake the idea out, he picked her up carefully. After a moment's hesitation, he then knew exactly what he had to do. Rushing off toward the hospital, he told Sara, "Please don't go on me now!"

After removing the Jolly Roger flag from atop the crow's nest, Homac climbed down and said, "I'm going to go looking for them."

Doma, who had been looking for tools they could use to fix up the ship, replied, "Worried already? It's only been ten minutes."

Homac shrugged and said, "I've just got this bad feeling."

Doma sighed and replied, "Well then I'll stay and watch the ship. You never know if those pirates will try to reclaim it."

Homac slipped off the ship and headed into town. After some wandering around, he found a frantic looking Elayne standing outside the hospital. Homac ran over and asked, "What happened?"

Elayne relayed, "Sara just passed out for some reason. I took her here to try to find out why, but no news yet. The healers in there just say to wait out here, so that's what I'm doing."

Homac grabbed hold of the doorknob and Elayne exclaimed, "Whoa! Didn't you listen to a word I said?"

The words fell on deaf ears as Homac opened the door and walked inside. He then demanded, "What's wrong with her?"

One of the startled healers inside replied timidly, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to wait outside, sir, you're…"

A single glare from Homac caused the healer to stop short of finishing her sentence. With a look of resignation, she looked away and said, "We're finished treating her. She had been poisoned somehow, and it's a good thing that boy managed to get her here so fast otherwise we're not sure if we could have successfully treated her."

Elayne, who had been listening outside, walked in. He figured that if Homac was going to disregard the rules, he may as well too. After all, _he's _the troublemaker, not Homac. Homac let what the healer said sink in and asked, "So, how is she?"

The healer replied, "We're not sure. She has been successfully cleansed of the poison, and her breathing has stabilized…yet she hasn't woken up. It's still early, so there's no immediate cause for alarm but normally patients who have been successfully treated wake up by now."

Elayne asked, "Meaning?"

The healer sighed and said, "Meaning that she may have entered a comatose state. We can't treat that with magic or herbs…the only thing we can do is wait to see if she wakes up."

Homac looked among the patients until he spotted Sara. His eyes fell upon her sleeping form and he walked over. The healer asked of Elayne, "Do you know some way she could have been poisoned?"

Elayne pondered this for a moment before replying, "She did get sliced up by a scimitar. Some pirates infuse their blades with poison to make their weapon more deadly. That's the most likely reason."

Homac found himself at Sara's bedside. The healer who had been sitting on a stool observing her looked up at Homac and surrendered it. He sat down and with tears welling up in his eyes, took hold of Sara's hand. He wanted to say something, yet he couldn't get the words out. Instead he just sat there, holding her hand and anxiously awaiting the moment when her eyes would open again.

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Hello again! I hope that you like the chapter and I'll make sure this oncoming chapter is the best it possibly can be just for you! Or at least the best it can get with me as its author. 


	14. The Dream

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy.

Well, sorry it took so long but I hope you liked the chapter. Nobody review my last one so I feel a little sad and forgotten.

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Chapter 13: The Dream

A strange, load buzzing woke Sara up from her slumber. It took her several seconds to register the fact that it was the alarm clock which lay on a shelf next to her bed. Sara shut down the alarm and sat up in her bed. Looking around, Sara gave out a gasp.

She was in her room, yet somehow the normally familiar surroundings seemed strange and unreal. There was a wooden desk with an outdated computer on it to the right of her bed, a wooden bookshelf next to that, and a closet in its usual place on the east side of the room. Through the window Sara could see the sun starting to rise up in the morning sky. Checking the alarm clock Sara saw that it was 6:00 a.m. It was the time she would get up to get ready for school.

Sara jumped out of bed and her bare feet touched the cold hardwood floor. She looked into a mirror above the bureau opposite the door. She was in her nightgown. The very same one she had slept in before she had been sent to Gaia if her memory served her correctly.

Sara frowned at her predicament. It was as if her recent escapades never happened, as if it were all some long and elaborate dream. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she walked into the bathroom down the hall and washed her face. She also gave her teeth a good scrubbing, which she figured they needed badly. After finally relieving herself and washing her hands she walked downstairs.

Everything here seemed typical also. The familiar smell of breakfast wafted into her nose and made her stomach rumble. Her mother was cooking eggs and bacon, which was a morning favorite of Sara's father. Sara's mother looked over toward her and asked in Japanese, "Would you like some?"

Sara nodded and took a seat next to her father at the dining room table. He was reading a newspaper with interest, and it wasn't until her mother served breakfast that he put it down. Sara's father had blonde hair and green eyes and was averagely built. Sara's mother had long black hair and brown eyes and was slightly taller than the average woman at 5'7".

"Hey sleepyhead," her father greeted, "Did you sleep well?"

Sara nodded. "I had this really odd dream though."

Sara's mother had finished getting her own food and spoke yet again in Japanese with a smile, "Now, what are you all talking about in English?"

Sara smiled. She knew that her mother understood and spoke English perfectly. Still, to humor her Sara replied in Japanese, "I had a strange dream last night that I was in another world. There was magic and I met all sorts of people."

Sara's mother replied, "Speaking of meeting people, you do remember that you are going to see your great-grandmother today, right?"

Sara frowned slightly. "We are?"

She nodded and continued, "Yes. After your classes."

Sara remained silent. Thinking it over, she came to the most likely conclusion that they were going to visit her grave. Finishing up her breakfast, she continued her morning routine and hopped on the bus to her school.

While she did try her best, Sara found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on what her professors were saying. Her mind continuously wandered back to Gaia, and to the friends she had made there. Could all that have possibly been just a dream? Sara refused to wrap her mind around that conclusion. She had a good imagination, yes, but not _that_ good. Maybe her videogame obsessed friend Ashley, but not herself.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Ashley's voice snapped Sara out of her thoughts. Sara answered, "Yeah, why?"

Ashley replied, "Well, for one thing you're staring mindlessly at your food. Second of all, you just sat there while I gave the entire explanation of the plot of Final Fantasy IV, something you'd never let me do."

Shiori, sitting to the right of Sara and across from Ashley replied, "She's just got a lot on her mind. Sara, you're to visit your great-grandmother today, aren't you?"

Sara nodded, "I'm trying to figure that out too. Mom said that we're going to visit _her_, not her grave. It could be just a misunderstanding, but it kinda creeps me out."

Shiori gave an understanding nod. "You're going through a confusing time right now. You do not know what is real and what is not. Yet fear not, because you will learn it yet."

Sara gave a confused glance at her friend. Before Sara could ask what Shiori meant, the bell rang and her friends bid their goodbyes without another word.

Whatever concentration ability that Sara previously had went straight out the window she stared out of. Luckily, the day went by oddly fast so Sara could go immediately home.

Her mother was waiting outside the house and as soon as Sara approached the door she said, "I've laid out the outfit I want you to wear on your bed for you."

Sara replied thanked her mother and walked upstairs to change and was startled by the outfit her mother had picked out.

On her bed were the clothes she had on before she had passed out in Gaia: a red shirt and blue jeans and to top it all off was the emerald crystal Sara had grown used to carrying. The crystal, as faded as it was in Gaia, was now strapped on a chain and made into a necklace. Sara would have taken this time to further ponder her situation but a honk from the car and the hurried yelling from her father rushed her to change.

Sara changed out of the outfit she was already wearing, a white shirt with an unbuttoned light floral pattern jacket and blue jeans and reluctantly changed into her old ones. She then quickly put the necklace on and ran out to the car.

After riding in the car for several minutes, Sara ventured to ask, "Mom? Where did I get this necklace?"

Her mother replied, "Don't you remember? Your great-grandmother gave it to you almost two weeks ago."

Sara asked, "How is that possible?"

Her mother's usual joyful expression was replaced by a serious one. "You shall learn soon enough."

Her father then said, "We're here!"

He parked on the side of the road (the left side, if you need to know) and Sara looked out the window.

They had parked beside a large garden. Flowers grew untamed throughout the grassy lawn, and there was a miniature waterfall toward the back of the garden. Two cherry trees stood on either side of a figure standing with its back toward the car.

Without a second glance at her parents, Sara stepped out of the car and cautiously approached the figure while the various fragrances from the foliage made her feel slightly lightheaded.

"You have come, I see."

Sara stopped dead in her tracks, a few feet away from the woman who had just spoken to her. The woman turned around, and Sara got her first real glimpse of her.

This woman had hair the same color as Sara's, yet instead of being merely shoulder length it almost touched the flowers blooming at her feet. She had very fair skin, and eyes as green as emeralds. She also wore a headband with two turquoise bands and a white one in the middle with an emerald neatly affixed to it. She was wearing a robe with a turquoise and white color scheme.

The sleeves of her robe extended slightly past her hands, and were turquoise above and under the red seams it faded out into white. The robe appeared to be almost like a dress covered in a cloak, the cloak a turquoise color while the dress underneath white. To top this entire ethereal figure off, she seemed to glow and light up the entire garden.

Sara asked, "Are you my great-grandmother Mina Hysaro?"

She nodded, "I am."

Sara shook her head. "I get it. I'm dreaming. None of this is real."

Mina replied, "Yes and no. Your corporeal form lies in Gaia, while your soul has returned here to Earth."

Sara looked perplexed. "Why?"

Mina answered, "I have called it here."

This didn't help. "Again, why?"

Mina laughed and said, "To explain that I must go back to the beginning, even before you first picked up the crystal of wind."

Sara carefully sat down trying to avoid sitting on the multitude of flowers running rampant and said, "I'm all ears."

"You see, I originated as a Gaian, yet I came here to Earth."

Sara interrupted, "How'd you do that?"

Mina shook her head. "I do not feel you are ready to hear that."

Sara looked disappointed, yet nodded for her to continue her story. "While I had moved to Earth, my mind couldn't let thoughts of Gaia behind. I started to wonder if Gaia would ever be salvaged. So, when cancer claimed my life I became a spirit destined to roam the worlds until my business is done.

"When I traveled back to Gaia, I happened upon three other spirits who had resolved to put right what had gone wrong in that world by taking on the responsibility of an elemental crystal. They did this in an attempt to foil the four Fiends draining power from the elements. Yet while they had earth, fire, and water, they were useless without wind. So being who I am, I took on this element."

Sara asked, "Who are the other spirits?"

"The representative of earth is a wise old scholar from Melmond. Fire is embodied by a Sage from Crescent Lake. Responsibility of water is a wizard from Onrac, and I represent wind."

"So where are you from?"

Mina smiled goodheartedly and said, "That you shall learn in time, my child."

Sara guessed, "So, these spirits gave out the crystals, didn't they?"

"Yes we did. Earth was given to Homac Higashi, the grandson of a famous black mage from Melmond. Fire was given to Elayne Toroth. A troublemaker to say the least, but talented as an up-and-coming ninja with a fiery personality. Water was given to his brother Doma Toroth, with a strong sense of justice and a good heart. You were given the wind crystal, as you should already know."

Sara asked, "But why me? Why not some other person, perhaps a white mage with more experience?"

Mina replied, "Because I wanted to keep the wind with the wind. Yes, it was a gamble that the other spirits wished I didn't take. One said you wouldn't care what was happening to Gaia."

"That's silly. I would've cared no matter where the place is."

Mina smiled and continued, "That's why I didn't listen to him. I knew that any great-grandchild of mine would be kindhearted enough to help a world that was not her own. The other said that you would fall into a cultural shock and be useless to start out with."

Sara laughed and said, "I would have thought that of myself too if I didn't know any better now."

"The third one was tricky. He said that while you would care and you would quickly get over the introduction of a new world there was no guarantee that you would have the same healing abilities as I did. That did worry me some, yet you've shone through marvelously."

Sara asked, "So, again: Why am I here?"

Mina answered, "I wasn't sure if you were doing this out of the goodness of your own heart or out of obligation."

Sara opened her mouth to say something, yet words wouldn't come. She wondered herself: why was she doing this? Why had she taken on the responsibility of a planet to which she didn't belong? Sara couldn't answer this honestly and the more she thought about it the more it made her wonder.

"That is why you are here."

Sara asked, "What difference does it make anyway?"

"If you do not wish to risk your life for others, then I do not want to force this task upon you. So you have a choice: You an either go back into your car…"

Mina pointed toward the black vehicle. Sara noticed that her parents inside weren't moving. It was as if they were cryogenically frozen. "…and remain in the world were you were born, or you can return to Gaia and resume your quest."

Mina pointed toward a point up in the sky and Sara could see herself lying on a bed. It was dark, and everyone was asleep also. Elayne and Doma had fallen asleep against the wall, while Homac's upper body was on the bed Sara was laying upon.

Sara asked, "If I choose to go to Gaia…will I be able to return?"

Mina replied, "That is not the question. The question is: Do you cast away the traveling companions whom you hardly know to return to a life in which you've grown accustomed to, or do you risk never seeing your family and friends again in order to attempt to save Gaia?"

Sara grew silent for a long time as she pondered the choice. How could her great-grandmother stand there and tell her to give up her friends and family or throw away any chance of Gaia being saved? After one final look at her parents, Sara finally gave her answer.

"I can't. I can't cast away my family and friends, yet I also can't condemn Gaia to perish."

Sara stood up and looked Mina straight in the eye with a very serious look upon her face. "The point is that I cannot choose one or the other. And so…"

Sara took a deep breath and carefully gave a second thought to what she had decided. Mina stood there in anticipation of Sara's answer. "I choose to continue. I can't be selfish and throw away a planet full of people for only a handful of people. You appointed me with a task and whether I like it or not, I must complete it. It has nothing to do with me or my wants; it has to do with what is best for everyone. What I want is to help people and I won't feel happy knowing the only person I've helped is myself."

Mina smiled and said, "Good answer. I knew I choose right when I picked you."

Sara asked, "So, how do I wake up?"

"Just close your eyes and relax. You will be reunited with your body soon enough."

Sara opened her eyes to find herself lying down in a bed. She sat up and looked outside. The crescent moon was high in the night sky accompanied by hundreds of twinkling stars. Taking her eyes from the sky she looked at Homac. She thought that he looked so peaceful while he was sleeping, and couldn't resist the urge to gently caress his cheek. The sudden touch woke him up from his slumber and Sara moved her hand back to where it was.

Homac looked up at Sara and gave a hopeful smile, "You're finally awake."

He nearly broke down in tears of joy but managed to choke them back. One lone tear slid down his face and Sara wiped it away. He smiled and drew Sara into a tight embrace, saying, "I'm so glad you're okay!"

The sudden gesture caught Sara off guard and before she could figure out what to do he let go of her and looked slightly away with an embarrassed smile, the slight blush on his cheeks visible in the moonlight. Sara held back a laugh and said, "Thanks."

He looked even further away and Sara could only guess that she had made him blush even further. "No problem."

Sara yawned and said, "You don't mind if I go back to sleep, do you?"

Homac replied, "Only if you promise you'll wake back up again."

Sara nodded. "I promise."

Homac continued, "Now, I'm holding you to that word. If you don't wake up again I'll be very upset with you."

Sara laughed and said, "Alright then."

Looking around a bit she found an empty bed a couple beds away from her and said, "You can sleep over there if you want."

Homac moved the stool and laid down on the floor. "I'm good over here. Thanks for your concern though."

Sara smiled and said, "No problem. Well, good night."

Homac replied, "Good night."

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Well, that's my chapter. Hopefully somebody will review this time.


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